The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has taken action in chaos that followed Saturday’s governorship primary election in Edo State.
The party declared the exercise as inconclusive after 3 winners were declared in 3 parallel exercises.
This decision comes in the wake of a contentious primary that saw three different candidates being proclaimed as winners, leading to confusion and unrest within the party ranks.
The disputes, initially had a member of the House of Representatives, Dennis Idahosa, declared the winner by Governor Hope Uzodimma, the chairman of the APC Primary Election Committee, at the Protea Hotel in Benin.
In a parallel development, Senator Monday Okpebholo was announced as the victor at a separate event held at the residence of Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, also in Benin City.
The latter withdrew from the race 24 hours before the event. He stated that he is willing to support anybody that emerged winner.
Adding to the complexity, Ojo Babatunde, speaking on behalf of local government returning officers, later proclaimed Anamero Sunday Dekeri, another House of Representatives member, as the winner of the contentious poll.
The conflicting declarations led to unrest, with protests erupting on Monday as disgruntled youths and women converged on the party’s secretariat, forcefully expelling members of the State Working Committee led by Jarret Tenabe.
Amidst the chaos, Anamero Sunday Dekeri escalated the situation by visiting the party’s national secretariat, where he sought a certificate of return from Abdullahi Ganduje, the national chairman of the APC.
Dekeri insisted that he polled the highest number of votes in Saturday chaotic primary.
Responding to the crisis, Ganduje called for an urgent meeting of the National Working Committee (NWC) on Tuesday night, aiming to address the discord and chart a path forward for the party in Edo State.
The APC National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, while addressing newsmen after the meeting said, “The NWC resolves that the Edo State governorship primary election has not been completed and has now fixed Thursday, February 22, 2024 for the completion of the APC primary election process.”
Morka has also released a formal statement to this effect:
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