Senator Monday Okpebholo (Edo Central) has emerged as the winner of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Governorship direct primary election.
The declaration was made by the Cross River Governor, Bassey Otu, who served as the Chairman of the Edo APC shadow poll, following the comprehensive collation of results from the 18 local government areas.
The announcement took place at the Lushville Hotel and Suites, located in the Government Reservation Area (GRA), Benin.
Senator Okpebholo secured a total of 12,433 votes, surpassing his closest competitor, Dennis Idahosa, the representative of Ovia constituency in the House of Representatives, who garnered 6,541 votes.
The primary election comes in the wake of a controversial and inconclusive primary held last week and supervised by Governor Hope Uzodimma.
Following the chaos that greeted the initial emergence of 3 winners in 3 parallel exercises, the APC National Working Committee intervened, and declared the initial primary inconclusive.
According to Uzodimma’s claims, Dennise Idahosa had led the gubernatorial race with 40,483 votes, a figure that was contested by party members.
The rerun of the primary election is said to have addressed the contentious issues that marred the previous attempt and also reaffirmed the APC’s commitment to a transparent and democratic selection process for its candidates.
Asue Ighodalo, incumbent deputy governor Philip Shaibu were on February 22, announced winners in PDP parallel elections.
An update is still being awaited with the Labour Party primary.