The All Progressives Congress has said its governorship primary election in Edo state was “not completed”.
It said a new primary will be held on Thursday, February 22, to determine its flagbearer for the September 2024 governorship election in the state.
The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, issued a statement late on Tuesday to announce the party’s position on the contentious primary.
The statement read, “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, on Saturday, February 17, Governor of Imo State and chairman of the Edo primary election committee, Hope Uzodimma, declared Dennis Idahosa, a member of the house of representatives, as the winner of the primary election.
Uzodinma said 43-year-old Idahosa polled 40,483 votes to defeat other governorship hopefuls in the race.
Following Uzodimma’s declaration of Idahosa as the winner, the returning officers in the various Local Government Areas in the state announced Sunday Dekeri as the victor of the primary.
The spokesperson of the returning officers, Ojo Babatunde, said Dekeri, a lawmaker representing Etsako federal constituency in the house of representatives, polled 25,384 votes to defeat Idahosa.
Less than 24 hours after the election, a group known as the All Progressives Congress Stakeholders Forum alleged that Idahosa was declared the winner before the conclusion of the exercise.
Addressing a press conference in Abuja, the coordinator of the group, Emmanuel Godwin, said: “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 Dennis 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.”
On Monday, the controversy over the primary took a fresh twist as the senator representing Edo central and a governorship aspirant, Monday Okpebholo, claimed that he won the election with over 6,000 votes.
