Edo 2024: Okpebholo Campaign Faults Ganduje’s Congratulatory Message to Idahosa

* Decision null, void, says group

Adibe Emenyonu in Benin City and Juliet Akoje in Abuja

The campaign organisation of a factional candidate in last Saturday’s governorship primary of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Edo, Senator Monday Okpebholo, has faulted the congratulatory message from the National Chairman of the party, Abdullahi Ganduje to Mr. Dennis Idahosa.
He described the message to Idahosa, another candidate who emerged after the primary, as misleading and an attempt to give credence to Idahosa’s claim to victory.

 The Director of Media and Publicity of Okpebholo’s campaign, Godswill Inegbe, said Ganduje as the father and respected leader of the party couldn’t have hurriedly issued a congratulatory message when controversies and other issues characterised the announcement of the results.
The Imo State Governor,  Hope Uzodimma, who doubled as the chairman of the APC primary in Edo State, had declared Idahosa winner of the primary with 40, 453 votes, while Dr Stanley Ugboaja, who was the Chief Returning Officer for the poll at a separate venue, announced Okpebholo winner, having scored 12, 145 votes.
But Okpebholo’s campaign , represented by Inegbe said that such a congratulatory message couldn’t have come from  Ganduje in view of the issues surrounding the outcome of the primaries.

 Inegbe noted that in his phone conversation with the Chief Press Secretary to the National Chairman of APC on Sunday morning, Mr Edwin Olofo, he neither confirmed nor acknowledge that the statement came from him.
He 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.”
The media aide to the federal lawmaker said his principal has implicit confidence in the national and state leadership of the great party to ensure that the victory of Okpebholo  in the February 17, APC primary election is upheld.
Meanwhile, a group, the APC Stakeholders Forum has described the purported announcement of Idahosa  as the winner of Edo state governorship primary election by Uzodimma of Imo state as null and void.

Leader of the group, Hon. Emmanuel Godwin, while briefing the press yesterday said that Uzodimma lacks the power to usurp the duties and responsibilities of local government returning officers in the Edo state primaries.
“In this instance, we have been inundated with news that a particular candidate was announced yesterday by Governor Hope Uzodimma 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. Uzodimma lacks the power to usurp duties and responsibilities of local government returning officers in the Edo state primaries.
“We also condemn in very strong terms the attempt by 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,” he stated.
The group called on Ganduje and  President Bola Tinubu to, as a matter of honour, discard Uzodimma’s declaration of Idahosa, insisting that he didn’t win the primaries.
It stressed that Idahosa lacks the capacity, competence and character to win Edo state gubernatorial election for the APC, come September 2024.