The election has been declared as flawed after three winners emerged as the APC governorship candidates.
One of the top contenders to clinch the Edo All Progressives Congress 2024 ticket, Senator Oserheimen Osunbor has called on President Bola Tinubu to wade into the looming crisis of the party after Saturday’s primary election.
The election has been declared as flawed after three winners emerged as the APC governorship candidates.
Osunbor called for the cancellation of the election.
He disclosed this in a press conference on Sunday evening in Iruekpen, his hometown, where he narrated what happened at the weekend.
He said, "On Saturday, 27th of February 2024, all registered members of APC across Edo State came out to vote for their preferred candidate for the 21 September governorship election.
"To their disappointment, the election did not take place anywhere that I know of across the 18 local government areas of Edo State. The party officials deployed from the Abuja office of the Natiional Organising Secretary to conduct the elections at the various wards and local government areas of Edo State were kept in hotels in Benin.
"There is no record or video of any of them performing their assigned roles in the election at their respective designated points.
"Specifically, in my own Ward 6 of Esan LGA, where over 200 members assembled and were eagerly waiting, no electoral official of the party turned up.
"In fact, there was no election anywhere in Esan West and other LGAs including Akoko-Edo and Etsako West. I was aghast and in disbelief when I saw a video of the purported result of Esan West election being announced by a lady said to be a returning officer.
"What we saw on television was not the result of the election but the allocation of votes by some persons in Benin to each of the aspirants.
"In the end, two candidates have been announced as winners - Sen. Monday Okpebholo and Hon. Denis Idahosa - in a primary election that was never held or was not conducted in accordance with the law and guidelines.
“This charade confirms the widespread suspicion that there is a deliberate plan by some people to create crises in Edo state APC, instigate bitterness among the members and set the public against the party in order to aid the victory of the presumed PDP candidate.
"They are labouring to present a weak APC candidate that will be easily overrun and defeated by the presumed PDP candidate during the election. They are not working in the interest of APC but of PDP. We must avoid a repeat of the scenario which led to the defeat of APC in 2020.
"I hereby appeal to his excellency President Bola Tinubu to: - Cause an investigation to be instituted into the allegation that this sham of a primary election and the crises it has generated have been induced by gratification given and received by the principal actors to damage APC and pave the way for the emergence of the PDP candidate in the election.”
He also called on Tinubu to “order the cancellation of the election which has produced two or four candidates, if you add Prince Clem Agba and Hon Anamero Dekiri who have each claimed victory”.
He said, “The primary election cannot stand the test of legal scrutiny but rather will jeopardize the chances of APC. This is, in fact, their true intention and desire. There has been a brazen disregard of the Party Guidelines, Party Constitution and the Electoral Act, which may prove fatal in the event of litigation.”
Lastly, he called on the President to “order another primary election to be conducted ahead of the 24th February deadline set by INEC. Different officers should be assigned to conduct the fresh primaries”.
"I make this appeal as the most popular aspirant with name recognition and acceptability throughout the length and breadth of Edo State,” he added.