National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje has congratulated the winner of the Edo State governorship primary election, Honourable Dennis Idahosa.
Ganduje, in a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Edwin Olofu, urged Idahosa to carry all aspirants along so as to ensure victory for the party in the forthcoming election in the state.
The national chairman equally commended Governor Uzodinma’s election committee for its transparency in the conduct of the poll.
Ganduje had earlier cautioned that only candidate that emerged at the primary conducted by Senator Uzodinnma would be accorded recognition.
He urged all the aspirants to put aside their differences as the primary was over and join hands with Idahosa to deliver victory for the party in the election.
“I want to congratulate the winner of the Edo State governorship election, I want to equally commend and appreciate Governor Hope Uzodinma’s election committee for their hard work and the transparent manner in which the primary was conducted. At this point, I want to call on all the aspirants to bury the hatchet and work for the interest of the party so that our party will emerge victorious.”
LGA returning officers declare Dekeri APC candidate
The local government returning officers for the APC primary election, on Saturday night, declared Anamero Dekeri, winner of the contest.
Spokesman of the local government returning officer, Mr Ojo Babatunde who announced the result on Saturday night said Dekeri polled a total number of 25,384 to defeat Denis Idahosa who scored 14,127 votes.
Flanked, by some returning officers, Babatunde said Dekeri polled a total number of 25, 384 to defeat Denis Idahosa who scored 14,127 votes.
Babatunde said: “Honourable Dekeri having met the requirements of the law and scored the highest valid votes cast has been declared winner of the election and returned elected.”
Dekeri is the member representing Etsako Federal Constituency at the House of Representatives.
Okpebholo campaign council faults Ganduje’s congratulatory message
One of the factional candidates that emerged from Saturday’s governorship primary of the Edo State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Monday Okpepbholo, has faulted the congratulatory message from the national chairman of the party, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje to Mr Dennis Idahosa, who emerged after the primary, as misleading and an attempt to give credence to Idahosa’s claim to victory.
Okpebholo, who spoke through the Director of Media and Publicity, Senator Monday Okpebholo Governorship Campaign Organisation, Godswill Inegbe, said Ganduje, as the leader of the party, should not have hurriedly issued a congratulatory message when controversies and other issues characterised the announcement of the results.
Controversy trailed the APC primaries held on Saturday as Governor Hope Uzodinma, who was chairman of the APC primary in Edo State, declared Idahosa winner of the exercise with 40, 453 votes, while Dr Stanley Ugboaja, who was the Edo State governorship primary returning officer, at a separate venue, announced Senator Okpebholo winner with 12,145 votes.
The Okpebholo campaign organization said it was ridiculous that the national chairman of the party congratulated Idahosa in view of the issues surrounding the outcome of the primaries.
Inegbe said he had a conversation with the chief press secretary to the national chairman of APC on Sunday morning, Mr Edwin Olofo who neither confirmed nor acknowledged that the statement came from him.
Inegbe said: “My conversation with Edwin Olofo was shocking and revealing to say the least. I am the press secretary to Senator Okpebholo, and, in any given circumstance, when I release a statement on behalf of my principal, if anyone across the world reaches out to me for confirmation, I do so with all pleasure and authority, because my statements are approved and authorised by my principal.
“However, in this case, when I called Mr Olofo for confirmation of the purported congratulatory message from the national chairman of APC allegedly authored by him, he couldn’t confirm that the statement was released by him.”
Uzodimma acted in error- APC group
As controversy persists over the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship primary held in Edo State where two aspirants are laying claim to the ticket, a group within the party, APC Critical Forum, has urged the national chairman of the party, Abdullahi Ganduje, not to accord recognition to Honourable Dennis Idahosa.
At a media briefing, coordinator of the APC Critical Forum, Honourable Emmanuel Godwin claimed that the Imo State Governor acted in error as results were announced when returning officers were still collating results.
The Forum therefore appealed to the APC NWC to give the party ticket to Honorable Dekeri whom they claimed won the party primary.
“As critical stakeholders of the party, we stand with Honourable Dekeri. We stand by him and we want to assure the good people of Edo state that succour is on the way.
The APC Edo State needs his statewide popularity, competence and capacity to win Edo State gubernatorial election.
“In this instance, we have been inundated with news that a particular candidate was announced yesterday by His Excellency, Hope Uzodinma who incidentally is the chairman of the primary election committee, Edo State.
“It is unfortunate that Hope Uzodimma who is not the returning officer in whatever capacity assumed the position and went ahead to announce Denis Idahosa when the returning officers were still collating the results.
“We wish to therefore state categorically that the purported announcement is null and void and it should be disregarded in its entirety. Governor Uzodimma lacks the power to usurp duties and responsibilities of local government returning officers in the Edo state primaries.
“We also condemned, in a very strong terms, the attempt by His Excellency Hope Uzodimma to subvert the will of the Edo people by declaring fictitious results from the 18 local government areas in the absence of the collation officers who were officially sent to the various local governments.
“We call on the national chairman of our great party the APC, Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje and the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to, as a matter of honour, discard Governor Hope Uzodimma’s infamous declaration of one Mr Denis Idahosa, who didn’t win the primaries. This is a man who lacks the capacity, competence and character to win Edo state gubernatorial election for the APC in September 2024.
“Finally, whilst throwing our collective support behind the validly nominated candidate, we also wish to call on the good people of Edo State both home and the diaspora to team up behind Anamero Dekeri to immediately begin to set up tactical mechanism to confront the PDP candidate ahead of September 2024.
“It is on record that in a viral video, the state chairman of the party, Emperror Jarret Tenebe had remarked that only Anamero Dekeri and one other Monday Okpebholo are the two aspirants legally qualified to contest the Edo APC primaries held on 27th February 2024 because only the duo complied with the APC guidelines of payment of membership validation exercise. It is on record that Anamero Dekeri alone paid for over sixty-five thousand APC members.”
