APC group: Uzodinma declared Idahosa winner of Edo primary before conclusion of exercise

A group known as the All Progressives Congress (APC) Stakeholders Forum has alleged that the party’s governorship primary in Edo state was underway when Dennis Idahosa, a house of representatives member, was declared winner of the exercise.

While Hope Uzodinma, governor of Imo and chairman of the governorship primary election, declared Idahosa as the winner of the exercise, the returning officers in the various LGAs in the state, declared Sunday Dekeri as the flag bearer.

Addressing a press conference in Abuja on Sunday, Emmanuel Godwin, coordinator of the group, asked Ganduje and President Bola Tinubu to support Dekeri, a lawmaker representing Etsako federal constituency in the lower legislative chamber.

Godwin said APC needs Dekeri’s popularity in the state to win the governorship election.

“The APC Edo state needs his statewide popularity, competence and capacity to win the Edo state gubernatorial election,” he said.

“In this instance, 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.

“We also condemned in very strong terms the attempt by His Excellency Hope Uzodima 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.

“We call on the National chairman of our great party the APC, His Excellency, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje and the president of Federal Republic of Nigeria, Bola Ahmed Tinubu to as a matter of honour discard Governor Hope Uzodimma’s infamous declaration of one Mr. Dennis Idahosa who did not win the primaries.”

The Edo governorship election is scheduled for September.