By Olusegun Olanrewaju, Cross Udo, and David Lawani
The theatrics and drama trailing last Saturday’s gubernatorial election drama in Edo State continued yesterday with the National Working Committee (NWC) of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) declaring the election inconclusive.
That sets the stage for today an ominous coincidence in which, all things being equal, the main opposition party in the country, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), will also be holding its version of the primary to pick its candidate for the coming governorship election.
Issues peaked as the day wore on with the sack of the Governor Hope Uzodimma committee put in place by the APC national leadership to chair the February 17 primary election that has since only succeeded in producing three ‘winner-candidates’.
Briefing the media immediately after a closed-door session that lasted several hours, the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Felix Morka, said, NWC was putting every arrangement in motion to ensure a conclusive process comes up today.
The Governor Hope Uzodimma-led Committee had earlier declared Dennis Idahosa winner of the governorship primary, assumedly after the defeat of 10 other aspirants, while two withdrew from the race and eventually produced parallel outcomes.
*Controversial primary
Governor Uzodimma, who chaired the Edo Primary Election Committee on February 17 declared a member of the House of Representatives, Idahosa, as the winner of the contest.
According to Uzodimma, the 43-year-old Idahosa polled 40,483 votes to defeat other governorship hopefuls in the race.
However, the returning officers in the various LGAs in the state announced Sunday Dekeri, a lawmaker representing Etsako federal constituency in the House of Representatives, as the victor of the primary.
According to the spokesperson of the returning officers, Ojo Babatunde the lawmaker polled 25,384 votes to defeat Idahosa.
Also, the returning officer, Stanley Ugboaja, declared Monday Okpebholo as the winner.
Before the election, at least three aspirants announced their withdrawal from the race.
The first to pull out was a former candidate in the last election, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu. He said his decision, although painful, was in the interest of peace and unity of the party.
Last Saturday, other aspirants – Lucky Imasuen and Ernest Afolabi- withdrew from the contest, citing the party’s decision to zone the ticket to the central senatorial district of the state.
The ruling party had screened and cleared Idahosa and 11 other governorship hopefuls to contest in the primary.
*Oshiomhole: Tinubu against zoning of party ticket in the state
Following the controversy that trailed last Saturday’s governorship election primary in Edo State which peaked with the sack of the chairman of the elections committee yesterday, President Bola Tinubu has ruled out ‘zoning’ as a criterion for picking the right candidate in an inconclusive election in the ‘Heart Beat’ state.
This was disclosed yesterday by the senator representing Edo North, Adams Oshiomhole, who spoke to State House correspondents yesterday after a meeting with Tinubu at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Oshiomhole had met with the president at the State House after the APC National Working Committee (NWC) decided to conduct a rerun primary election in the state due to controversies in last week’s exercise.
The former Edo State governor, according to Oshiomhole, said he was only interested in a free, fair, and transparent primary election, and not a ‘zoning’ arrangement.
He said: “They have a lot of rumours which I thought Mr. President should speak to, and I needed some clarification from him because as the leader of the party, there are a couple of things that I want to be sure that I know where he stands.
“One of them is the issue of zoning. The President has affirmed that he has no voting rights in Edo State. Even though the Edo people have the right to vote for the President, therefore, what matters to him is to ensure that APC members in Edo State in the direct primaries participate in the free and fair primaries.
“That’s the decision of the President. There have been rumours in the air that there’s probably zoning to one area or zoning to another area.
“The President said that as far as he’s concerned, he is committed only to free and fair primaries not based on zoning.”
A former national chairman of APC, Oshiomhole insisted that the party’s direct governorship primary in Edo State must be free, fair, and transparent, without zoning or imposition of any candidate.
He debunked the claims that he wanted to impose a candidate on the party, or of having any interest in the direct primary election, which will be concluded today.
He said he had the authority of the President to categorically rule out zoning or any undemocratic practices in the exercise.
Oshiomhole said the President told him, that: “It is merit and fairness. Fairness is not by individual allocating, fairness is by the process; members participate in direct primaries.”
The senator representing Edo North condemned attempts to impose zoning on the Edo APC ”when it was not done in other APC states like Kogi and Benue States, which had candidates from the same region back-to-back”.
The ex-labour militant wondered why Edo was being ‘singled out’, saying: “Who are you and I to dictate to Edo APC members where their candidate must come from?”
Oshiomhole declared he does not believe in zoning or ‘turn-by-turn democracy’ which he said kills fairness and imposes the minority on the majority.
He argued that he defeated a candidate from the Benin zone back then without zoning, but by gaining the support of the people across the state.
Oshiomhole also stated that he was elected to the Senate, even after being removed as the party’s national chairman because his constituents in Edo North still reposed confidence in him.
He maintained that he has a voting right and can advise on who to support just as former US President Barack Obama openly campaigned for Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton.
Oshiomhole, however, said leaders must earn the trust of their constituents through good governance so they can gain respect when they endorse anyone for election.
*Uzodimma dropped as chair of election c’ttee
Earlier yesterday, the APC removed Governor Hope Uzodimma as the chairman of the election committee.
His Cross River State counterpart, Bassey Otu, was named as his successor.
This was disclosed in a statement issued yesterday by the APC National Organising Secretary, Sulaiman Argungu.
Argungu said the Cross River governor has now been saddled with the responsibility of conducting the re-run poll slated for Thursday, February 22 (today).
Other members of the Primary Election Committee include former Osun State deputy governor, Mrs Titilayo Laoye-Tomori; APC’s flag bearer in the Plateau State 2023 governorship election, Nentanwe Goshwe; Umar Musa; Lawan Garba, and Rabiu Suleiman, who will serve as the secretary.
The change was effected a few hours after four leading aspirants called for Uzodimma’s replacement.
Aspirants like Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, Chief Lucky Imasuen, Senator Monday Okpebholo, and General Charles Airhiavbere (retd.), said they no longer trust his ability to conduct a free and fair election following the controversy that trailed Saturday’s poll.
*PDP aspirant asks court to stop exercise, alleges infraction of party guidelines
In the same vein, an aspirant in the ruling PDP in the state is also raising heavy dust in today’s gubernatorial election primary.
The governorship aspirant, Adizetu Umoru, is asking a Federal High Court, Abuja to set aside the ongoing process to choose the party’s candidate in the state.
Umoru, in the court papers, cited what is considered a technical gaffe on the part of the party in the notice for the primaries.
The aspirant, in the suit filed by her lawyer, Matthew Burka (SAN), asked for an order setting aside and invalidating any action or steps, including the ward congresses conducted by the PDP.
In her application, Umoru affirmed that the process was inherently defective in the face of the fact that the notice for the gubernatorial primary was issued by Setonji Koshoedo, whom she claimed was removed by a court as acting national secretary of the party in January 2024.
She contended that Koshoedo had on February 1 issued the “Notice of Gubernatorial Primary Elections in Edo State”, even though a Federal High Court presided over by Justice I.E. Ekwo removed him as the acting national secretary and confirmed Senator Samuel Anyanwu as the authentic national secretary on January 9.
She noted that the judgment of Ekwo was delivered on January 9, well before the notice by Koshoedo was made on February 1.
Also in her statement of claim, Umoru deposed that Koshoedo was not in a position upon the provisions of Section 82(1&5) requiring political parties to give notice to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to so communicate with the commission over issues of party congresses.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), PDP, Umar Damagun (Acting national chairman of the PDP), Hon. Setonji Koshoedo, the National Working Committee of the PDP, National Executive Committee, are the 1st to 6th Defendants respectively in the suit.
The aspirant is asking the court to, among others, determine:
“Whether having regard to the Provisions of Section 82 (1 & 5) of the Electoral Act, 2022, Article 47(1) of the 2nd Defendant’s Constitution (as amended 2017) and the Judgement of the Federal High Court, Per, Justice I. E. Ekwo delivered on January 9, in Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS1580/2023 between Hon. Geoffrey Ihentuge & Anor Vs. PDP & 4 Ors, if the 1st Defendant can give effect or act on the letter titled “Re: Notice of Gubernatorial Primary Elections in Edo State” dated Feb. 1, issued and/or endorsed by the 3rd and 4th Defendants and which was received by the 1st Defendant on February 2.”
She is also asking the court whether having regard to the “Provisions of Section 82(1 & 5) of the Electoral Act, 2022, Article 47(1) of the 2nd Defendant’s Constitution (as amended 2017), and the Judgment of the Federal High Court, Per Honourable Justice I.E. Ekwo delivered on January 9, in Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS1580/2023 between Hon. Geoffrey Ihentuge & Anor Vs. PDP & 4 Ors, if the 4th Defendant, can lawfully issue and/or endorse any letter of correspondence of the 2nd Defendant as its secretary or acting national secretary.”
She said that should the answers to all or any of the above questions be in the affirmative, the court should declare that the ward congresses conducted by the PDP were nullity, under the fact that the notice was invalidly issued.
She also specifically asked for an order setting aside and invalidating any action or steps, including the ward congresses conducted by the 2nd to 6th defendants and/or the 1st defendant under or in consequence of the letter titled “Re: Notice of Gubernatorial Primary Elections in Edo State” dated February 1, 2024, issued and/or endorsed by the 3rd and the 4th defendants.
