After days of silence, a bizzare twist has been brought to the controversial Edo State All Progressives Congress governorship election, with the party declaring the process was “not completed.”
The National Publicity Secretary of the party, Mr. Felix Morka, announced in a statement on Tuesday night the election would be completed on Thursday.
His short statement reads in full: “At its emergency meeting held today, Tuesday, February 20, 2024, to consider the report on the Edo State Governorship Primary Election, 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.”
Recall that the party had, in the heat of Saturday’s election, ruled that only the results from the electoral committee headed by Governor Hope Uzodinma would be considered authentic.
Uzodinma shortly proceeded to name Rep Denis Idahosa the winner, but his declaration was discountenanced after it emerged that collation was still on when he made the declaration. The collation officer proceeded to name Senator Monday Okpebholo the winner.
A fresh twist came when a third aspirant was also named winner.
In the ensuing confusion, and amid a rash of protests, the party went silent on everyone before the latest declaration.
One of the protesters was former governor, Professor Osariemen Osunbor, who told journalists, after filing a written petition: “You know governorship election is a national matter, it is a matter for the NWC, it is not a state election. And so everything concerning this process has to emanate from here, it has to be done from here the National Secretariat of the APC.
“That was the true position and I am sure you have your correspondents in Edo state and you know that there was no election in Edo state, you know that is the truth, there was no primary election conducted anywhere in Edo state.
“And there is a video which has gone viral of me addressing people in my ward, at the designated point in my ward, we were there up to about 3 o clock and soon after I left the place and I went home, I saw somebody declaring results in my local government.
“And there was nobody that came to my local government and yet I was seeing on television somebody said to be a returning officer declaring results of a primary election that never took place at all.
“Well, that really tells you the truth that no primary election took place in Edo state. Primary elections don’t take place in a hotel. Primary elections take place at the designated points in each of the 192 wards of Edo state.
“I have seen the statement credited to the Resident Electoral Commissioner that the primary he witnessed was the one that took place in a hotel in Benin. Is that how they conduct direct primary elections, you answer it.
“So that is a self admission by the REC that direct primaries were not conducted in accordance with the law, the guidelines, the APC constitution, the Electoral Act.
“What you saw was not conducted in accordance with the provisions of those relevant laws and statutes because as confirmed by the REC, that the only primary election he witnessed was the one that took place in a hotel in Benin City, that is self indictment of the entire process.
“APC is a party, ruling party in Nigeria, as a party that is ready to take over the governance of Edo state. Talk to those you can talk to, let them do the proper thing.”