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By Sebastine Ebhuomhan
Ahead of today, Thursday, All Progressives Congress (APC)’s rescheduled governorship primary election completion, Edo State people congratulate the Distinguished Senator Monday Okpebholo.
Mr. Okpebholo, who is popularly known as ‘Akpakomiza’, was the clear, rightful and worthy winner of the APC direct primary election for the September 2024 governorship election organized in the state’s three districts, 18 local government areas, and 194 electoral wards on Saturday, 17th February 2024.
Okpebholo, the incumbent lawmaker representing Edo Central Senatorial District in the upper chamber, the Senate, where he chairs the Senate Committee on Public Procurement, freely, fairly and credibly defeated the Right Honourable Dennis Idahosa, alias ‘Denco’, the incumbent lawmaker representing Ovia South West/Ovia North East Federal Constituency in the lower chamber, the House of Representatives. The result, officially signed by the Returning Officer of the election, Dr. Stanley Uzoamaka Ugboaja, declared Monday Okpebholo the winner. He scored 12,145 votes, and defeated Dennis Idahosa, who scored 5,536 votes.
APC Declares Edo Governorship Primary Inconclusive
The National Working Committee (NWC) of APC, after thoroughly deliberating on the shame in Edo State, and after properly briefing President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on the situation, commendably ruled the primary election as inconclusive. It therefore rescheduled the completion process for Thursday, February 22nd, 2024.
In a letter signed in Abuja by APC National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, it stated, “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.”
This report is therefore a call on all the lovers of democracy, all the lovers of Esan Land, all the lovers of Edo State and all the lovers of Akpakomiza to massively troop out again as they did last Saturday to cast their votes for the unblemished man that still remains the best aspirant of the party, who has the best interests of the people at heart, and who is most qualified and ready to genuinely raise governance beyond ethnicity, sloganeering, propaganda, deceit, voodoo, MOUs, and god-fatherism.
Monday Okpebholo’s 5-Point Agenda
Okpebholo has summarized his vision into a simple, straightforward Five-Point Agenda of action. They are: Security, Agriculture, Health, Infrastructure and Road Construction. Furthermore, he has promised to declare a state of emergency in all sectors of the economy as Edo State Governor.
Vote and Nominate Akpakomiza Again
According to the courageous and commendable Ugboaja, whose team was violently attacked and severely wounded by an organized and paid APC thugs that acted on behalf of some ignoble party leaders in an orchestrated bid to upturn the result and give Okpebholo’s ticket to Idahosa, 44,381 voters were accredited for the election out of which total votes cast and valid votes cast were 29,881 each, without any invalid vote.
As election was taking place in a host of venues in the state last Saturday, the orchestrated plan criminally put in place by some undemocratic and ignoble leaders of the party prevented election from taking place in many other venues. The leaders mobilized thugs to violently attack electoral umpires at the recognized collation centre, Lushville Hotel and Suites, Benin City, when it became apparent that their aspirant, Denco, was losing. Where election took place, however, collation was made and the collated and counted votes achieved the results that was declared by the manhandled electoral officers. As at the time the sponsored thugs invaded the collation centre on Saturday, about eight (8) local government areas have been counted with Akpakomiza establishing the big lead, against all odds.
At the recognized venue, not even journalists, doing their constitutional job of societal watchdogs were spared by the thugs. Journalists were flogged, boxed, kicked, bludgeoned, bloodied, wounded, and their tools seized and destroyed, too. Under the capable leadership of Mr. Festus Alenkhe, Edo State journalists, many of whom are over-worked and under-paid, yet contribute their best to the development of Edo State every day, defying difficult working conditions, unfriendly environments and threatening anti-democrats, certainly deserve better treatments from individuals, organizations, institutions and governments.
No Hope Uzodimma Abracadabra Again
It is no longer a joke or rumour that while election was supposedly going on last Saturday, Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State, chairman of the Progressive Governors’ Forum (PGF), who was also appointed as the chairman of Edo State APC Governorship Primary Election Committee, was busy manufacturing a different election result, which he dubiously announced to a bewildered state and nation at another venue, the Protea Hotel, Benin. In the rigged result sheet read by Uzodimma, a governor whose Supreme Court-rubber stamped election in 2019 was vehemently challenged, Okpebholo scored just 100 votes! Unbelievable.
The Independence National Electoral Commission (INEC) poured cold water on the daylight robbery that Governor Uzodimma, Senator Adams Oshiomhole, (who openly organized and campaigned for Denco in viral videos) and a few other party leaders allegedly wanted to perpetrate by reiterating it monitored only the election result sheet that produced Okpebholo as winner. The electoral umpire therefore dismissed the purported victory of Dennis Idahosa.
While there has been fears over Uzodimma’s continued chairmanship of the electoral committee, which position he had used to supervise the manufacturing of a dubious result sheet last Saturday, the APC NWC, following its meeting on Tuesday, expunged Uzodimma’s name from the revised committee membership.
What Uzodimma’s removal means, is that as registered APC members troop out again nominate Monday Okpebholo, alias Akpakomiza, the votes would definitely count, transparently counted, carefully collated, correctly tallied, and duly declared by the returning officer, subject to the ratification of the now under the new, able and conscientious committee chairman, His Excellency, Senator Bassey Otu, Governor of Cross River State.
Sebastine EBHUOMHAN is an award-winning journalist from Edo State, writing from Abuja. He can be reached on: usie007@yahoo.com or 08037204620.
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