Edo APC guber primary inconclusive –NWC

Cyril Mbah, Abuja Bureau Chief

The National Working Committee, NWC of the All Progressives Congress, APC, on Tuesday, declared that the party’s Edo State Governorship Primary Election has not been completed, and fixed Thursday, February 22, 2024 for the completion of the exercise.
This was contained in a statement by Barr Felix Morka, National Publicity Secretary of the APC, adding that the decision was reached at an emergency meeting of the NWC held in Abuja on Tuesday, February 20, 2024 which considered the report on the Edo State Governorship Primary Election.
The statement said: “The National Working Committee (NWC) deliberated on the report and resolved that the Edo State Governorship Primary Election has not been completed, and has now fixed Thursday February 22, 2024 for the completion of the Primary Election Process”.
The meeting followed massive protests that have trailed the recent congress supervised by the Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodimma-led Committee which produced three governorship candidates at parallel primaries.
Meanwhile, one of the candidates who emerged from last Saturday’s Edo APC congress, Senator Monday Okpebholo, yesterday dispatched a strongly worded petition urging the Congress Election Committee to issue him with a certificate of return as the authentic winner of the election.
Senator Monday Okpebholo, one of the most favoured candidate in the governorship primary alleged that claims by Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State, who supervised the election, that Dennis Idahosa won the contest with 40,000 votes, was false because only 24,000 members of the party were accredited to vote during the exercise.
The senator petitioned the Appeals Committee and copied the leadership of the ruling party requesting that a certificate of return should be issued to him having emerged winner in the contest, with over 12,000 votes, out of the 24,000 accredited voters.
The Edo Central lawmaker in the Senate, in the letter addressed to the Appeal Panel, gave a detailed explanation on how the Elections Committee constituted by the National Working Committee (NWC) of APC, led by the Chief State Electoral Officer/Returning Officer, Dr Stanley Ugboaja, successfully conducted the polls, where 12 aspirants competed.
He said the results announced by Governor Uzodimma did not reflect the true account of what happened, as confirmed by the returning officer.
The senator, while appealing to the Committee said having satisfied the conditions spelt out, he should be duly recognised as the governorship candidate of the APC in Edo State.
His words: “My humble appeal to your respected Committee is to look at the facts that I have presented and affirm them as cogent, and verifiable, apply the relevant provisions of the law guiding our primary elections and uphold the result collated, signed and announced by the returning officer and proceed with the official process by issuing me the Certificate of Declaration as the Winner of the 2024 Edo State Gubernatorial Primary Election.
“I have implicit confidence in the integrity of your committee to uphold the rule of law, fairness, equity, justice and regards to due process of the law, which are the hallmarks of democratic governance driven by internal party democracy.”
He added that “the final tally of the result as duly declared by the State Chief Electoral Officer/Returning Officer showed that “I scored 12,145 (Twelve Thousand One Hundred and Forty Five) votes to defeat my closest opponent, Honourable Dennis Idahosa, who scored 5,536 (Five Thousand Five Hundred and Thirty Six) votes. The result as handed over to me by Dr. Stanley Ugboaja the Chief Electoral Officer/Returning Officer duly appointed by the party is hereto attached.
“Despite the free, fair and credible process which preceded my being declared the winner of the primary election, information has reached me that Senator Hope Uzodinma, the Chairman of the Electoral Committee for the primary election, who was not mandated to function as the Chief Electoral Officer/Returning Officer for the election, has declared Honourable Dennis Idahosa as the winner of the election claiming to be acting on the fictitious result received from one Mr. Charity Amayanvbo, a known political associate of my defeated opponent.
“Mr. Amayanvbo is not a party official and was never appointed to collate results on behalf of the party. Rather, the party’s collation officials for the election are well known and published in a release signed by the party’s National Organising Secretary, Sulaiman Mohammad Argungu.
“A quick look at the fictitious result declared by Governor Uzodinma will demonstrate how untenable the declaration is.
“For instance, out of the about 73,000 (Seventy Three Thousand) registered party members, about 24,000 (Twenty Four Thousand) were accredited to vote. Yet, Governor Uzodinma declared that Honourable Idahosa scored 40,000 (Forty Thousand) votes!
“It is most unfortunate that HE. Hope Uzodinma failed woefully to work within reasons and rationality and consequently exposed our great party to ridicule and opprobrium by releasing fictitious figures in an election that he failed, refused and neglected to even visit the designated collation centre throughout the exercise.
“Therefore, the purported result he announced was neither a product nor consequentiality whatsoever, of Edo State Governorship Primary Election that held in Edo State, on 17th February 2023, for which the National Working Committee had constituted an Election Committee led by Dr. Ugboaja as State Chief Returning Officer with 18 LGA Election Returning Officers who performed a most credible assignment for which I and the majority of our party members in Edo State are eternally grateful.
“It is noteworthy that prior to my being declared the winner of the primary election, my defeated opponent, Honourable Idahosa, had tried to disrupt the peaceful collation of the result through his sponsored thugs who violently invaded the Collation Centre and attacked the officials of the party, INEC officials, and members of the press covering the collation process.
“Thankfully, the State Police Command led by the Commissioner of Police promptly intervened to repel the violent attack. This enabled the collation process to continue until the final tally and declaration of the result with me announced as the winner.”