INEC yet to recognise any faction in PDP national leadership tussle
Mr. Godwin Obaseki on Saturday emerged
the governorship candidate of All Progressives Congress in Edo State
ahead of the September 10 election to choose a successor to Governor
Adams Oshiomhole. Obaseki beat 11 other contestants to pick the ticket
of the state’s ruling party in the governorship primaries whose run-up
was mostly tense.
But in the main opposition Peoples
Democratic Party, there was considerable uncertainty at the weekend
about the party’s participation in the governorship election. This
followed an escalation of the party’s leadership crisis, as the two men
who laid claim to its headship readied to send different electoral
panels to the state for the party’s governorship primaries scheduled to
hold tomorrow. And the Independent National Electoral Commission said
yesterday that it had “not recognised any of the factions” or taken a
position on the PDP crisis.
Obaseki polled 1,608 votes. The other
aspirants that took part in the APC governorship primaries were Dr. Pius
Odubu (the deputy governor), Dr. Chris Ogiemwonyi, Kenneth
Imansuangbon, Prof. Oserhiemen Osunbor, Prof. Ebegue Amadasun, Austin
Emua, Comrade Peter Esele, Justina Agbara, Blessing Agbomhere, Gen.
Charles Airhiavbere, and Arigbe Osula
A total of 2,582 delegates were
accredited to vote at the primary election that was conducted by an
electoral committee constituted by the national headquarters of APC,
headed by Katsina State Governor Aminu Masari.
There was a frenetic pitch of activity
in the camps of the various aspirants as they jostled for the
endorsement of the delegates till the very last moment before the
primary election. As early as 5:30am yesterday, heavily armed security
operatives, made up of riot police, men of the Department of State
Security, and officials of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps,
were deployed at strategic routes leading to the Samuel Ogbemudia
Stadium in Benin City, venue of the delegates election. Motorists were
diverted to other routes.
The delegates queued at different
locations according to the three senatorial districts in the state and
were accredited before the commencement of voting. The delegates from
Edo Central senatorial zone were accredited at the George Idah Primary
School on Ihama Road, Government Reservation, and their counterparts
from Edo North did theirs at Imaguero Secondary School on Sapele road.
The Edo South delegates did their accreditation at Agbado Primary School
along Akpakpva road.
Security was tight at the three
accreditation centres. But as at 8.30am, when THISDAY visited George
Idah Primary School, venue for Edo Central delegates, officials for the
accreditation were yet to arrive with the materials. However, the
exercise commenced early at Agbado Primary School.
It was gathered that the Masari-led committee adopted the scattered process for easy control of the crowds and to save time.
Accredited delegates were conveyed from
the accreditation centres to the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium where the
voting commenced about 5.15pm following the arrival of the electoral
committee members about 4.59pm.
Speaking before the commencement of the
election, Masari said his team arrived Edo State on Friday and had met
with all the aspirants, the APC National Working Committee, and the
state executive committee members of the party. The guidelines for the
primary election were formally read out to all the stakeholders.
Masari stated, “We promised to be fair
and just to all as umpires. The interest of the state should be the
motive for the contest. We have advised the contestants.”
Meanwhile, INEC said it was yet to
decide on the crisis rocking PDP. Chief press secretary to the INEC
chairman, Mr. Rotimi Oyekanmi, told THISDAY last night that the
commission was still observing the situation and will at the appropriate
time make its position known.
“The truth of the matter is that INEC
has not taken any position,” Oyekanmi said by telephone. “INEC has not
recognised any of the factions as at today. When we do, we will issue a
public statement and we will state why we are recognising any of the
factions. But as of today, INEC has not recognised any PDP group. Our
prayer is that the warring parties will reconcile as soon as possible.”
The PDP crisis worsened last week when
the ousted national chairman, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, and Alhaji Ahmed
Makarfi – leaders of the two warring factions in the party – set up
separate electoral committees to conduct the governorship primaries in
Edo State. Sheriff continued to lay claim to the chairmanship of the
party, despite the dissolution of the National Executive Committee and
the National Working Committee, which he led, during the May 21 national
convention of the party in Port Harcourt. The Port Harcourt convention,
which held amid a parallel meeting of some PDP leaders in Abuja,
constituted a national caretaker committee headed by Makarfi.
As part of preparations for the Edo
State governorship poll, the Makarfi committee set up an electoral panel
to conduct the primaries. The committee advertised the nomination forms
for sale at the cost of N16 million. The electoral panel, which has
former Benue State governor, Gabriel Suswan, as chairman, had already
conducted ad-hoc congresses to choose delegates for the governorship
primaries.
Suswan said three aspirants had
indicated interest in contesting for the PDP governorship ticket and had
already signed an undertaken to abide by the outcome of the primary
election scheduled for tomorrow in Benin City.
The Sheriff camp has also gone ahead to
set up a committee headed by Senator Hope Uzodinma to oversee the Edo
State governorship primary and congresses for the forthcoming election.
Sheriff announced the membership of the election committee last Monday
when he launched a comeback at the national secretariat after initially
being denied entry by security agents. He insisted that the only people
that will be screened by the committee were those with evidence of N10
million payment for nomination.
“We have also asked all interested PDP
members to come and purchase nomination forms for the Edo State
governorship primary. The forms for the primary election is N10 million
and N16 million as was announced by the Makarfi-led caretaker
committee”,” he said.
Spokesman of the PDP national caretaker
committee, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, had alleged that the APC federal
government was sponsoring Sheriff to weaken the former ruling party
ahead of the Edo State election.
According to Adeyeye, “The APC has
contracted Sheriff and his cohorts to scuttle the chances of the PDP in
the Edo governorship election. We have credible intelligence that
sheriff had a meeting on Sunday night with an APC governor from
North-west, where it was finalised that he would be given full security
and financial support to exacerbate the crisis in the PDP with the
objective of preventing the PDP from presenting a candidate for the Edo
governorship elections, or in the very least, to prevent the PDP from
offering a serious challenge to APC whose electoral fortunes have
continued to nose- dive.”
Nonetheless, Oshiomhole, who spoke to
journalists after voting during the APC primaries, called the
contestants “12 angels”, stressing that primary elections are a critical
factor in governance.
There was a mild drama during the voting
yesterday as two of the aspirants, Ogiennwonyi and Imasuagbon, accused
Oshiomhole of trying to intimidate the delegates. However, a chieftain
of the party from Igueben, Ken Ihenseken, engaged Imasuagbon in a war of
words, which almost resulted in a physical combat before Oshiomhole
intervened to calm the situation. Odubu also engaged one of the youth
leaders, Tony Kabaka, in a fierce argument. When the altercation was
going on, the angry deputy governor ordered the Commissioner of Police
to arrest Kabaka, but Oshiomhole quickly intervened again and appealed
to his deputy to calm down.
A leader of the party, Henry Idahagbon, described the aspirants who were complaining as distractors who knew they would lose.
Oshiomhole said the primaries were
peaceful, explaining, “Those who have been peddling rumours about
purchase of PVCs have been shamed…
“I had told the aspirants that this must
be a brotherly affair and not war because at the end of the day we will
all work for the party and support whoever wins the primaries. That is
why I have been calm all these while when people make frivolous
allegations against me and even malign my person.
“But I thank God things are moving
smoothly and all those who predicted doom for APC today in Edo should
hide their heads in shame.”
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