By Ken Afor
The Edo Gubernatorial Primary Election Committee, headed by the Cross Rivers State Governor, Bassey Otu, has declared Senator Monday Okpebholo the winner of the Edo All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship direct primary election.
Senator Okpebholo, representing Edo Central in the Senate was declared the winner following the collation of results from the 18 local government areas in the state.
He polled 12,433 votes to defeat Hon. Dennis Idahosa, who polled 6,541 votes.
It would be recalled that Hon. Idahosa, who reportedly had the backing of the former Governor of the state, Adams Oshiomhole, was initially declared the winner of the party’s primary conducted last Saturday. However, the exercise was declared inconclusive by the party’s National Working Committee (NWC), prompting it to fix a new date, Thursday, February 22, to complete the process.
During the week, there were controversies from some leaders of the APC in Edo appealing to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the National Chairman of the party, Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje, a former Governor of Kano, to call Oshiomhole to order following his alleged involvement in the process.
The leaders, who are members of the Edo APC Elders’ Stakeholders Forum had claimed that Oshiomhole wanted to destabilize the Edo APC and the entire state to achieve his personal political goals.
