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Akinwande Soji-Ojo
There was Drama in Edo State on Saturday as two candidates emerge as All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate.
A member of the House Representatives, Dennis Idahosa, was declared the winner of the governorship primary election conducted by Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodimma.
Idahosa polled a total vote of 40,483 votes to become the candidate of the APC in the September 21 governorship election in the state.
Announcing the results, Uzodimma, who is the chairman of the APC primary election committee, said that having polled the highest number of votes among the nine aspirants, Idahosa becomes the candidate for the party.
He said there was a mix-up on where the secretariat of the committee was, noting that the Protea Hotel and not the Lushville Hotel, where results were announced earlier today, was the authentic secretariat.
However, Senator reorsenting Edo Central, Monday Okpebholo, was declared the winner of a parallel primary election.
The Returning Officer for the parallel election, Ogbuaja Stanley Uzoamaka, declared Okpebholo as the winner of the exercise held in Benin City, the Edo State capital, on Saturday.
His declaration came just after Uzodimma, who heads the APC primary election committee announced Idahosa as the winner of the poll.
The group dismissed Uzodimma’s declaration, maintaining that the Imo Governor’s position is only ceremonial.
The election conducted by the Uzodimma group was marred by disruption from suspected thugs who stormed the results collation centre in the GRA area of Benin City.
They threw away chairs and cameras mounted by journalists, a development that saw APC officials and pressmen scampering for safety.
The drama forced the election officials to change the venue of the collation exercise.
Uzodimma later explained that there was a mixup about the collation venue, stressing that his declaration of Idahosa as the winner of the election was done at the right venue.
Also, the APC has distanced itself from the parallel primary and endorsed the election conducted by the Uzodimma-led group.
“We wish to state categorically that only the Governor Hope Uzodinma-led Edo State APC Governorship Primary Election Committee is duly authorised to undertake the final collation and announcement of results of the Primary Election in the State.
“We urge all party members, officials in the State, and the general public to disregard the said announcement of results by these unauthorized persons,” the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, said.
Saturday’s election was the culmination of activities that saw the clearing of 12 candidates for the election.
But the party’s flagbearer in the 2020 governorship election, Osagie Ize-Iyamu, pulled out on the eve of the primary election. Also, Dr Ernest Afolabi Umakhihe and Chief Lucky Imasuen had earlier on Saturday withdrawn from the primary election, alleging that APC had zoned the ticket to Edo Central.