…Urges Party To Re-double Efforts Towards Victory In Ondo
By Gbenga Abulude (Politics and General desk)
A National youth leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Barrister Ismaeel Ahmed has expressed his disappointment at the loss of his party in the recently concluded Edo Governorship elections.
Ahmed lamented that for the first time since 2015, the party does not have a single State governor as representation in the South-South geo-political zone.
He blamed the controversies that surrounded the party’s governorship primary election for the defeat at the Edo election. Ahmed, a member of the Caretaker/Extra-Ordinary National Convention Planning Committee (CENCPC) of the APC, also stated the October 10 Ondo governorship election could become unpredictable, urging the party to double efforts to avoid a repeat of Edo scenario.
Ahmed reflecting on the Edo elections said: “We thought we had covered the ground fully well but there was a blind side we didn’t see.
“But the party has not officially done a post mortem which we intend to do this week: the National Assembly is very busy, we are going to call a post mortem to know how far and how we find ourselves in this kind of situation
“As we go to Ondo State, we know that APC did not win the Presidential election in Ondo state. So, Ondo is also going to be very dicey but the governor has done most of the reconciliation he needed to do based on what the reconciliation committee recommended to him.
“We are not going to take anything for granted anymore, we are not going to be sitting on our oars again. We are going to go out and fight to make sure that we retain that state (Ondo).”
He added: “It is very disheartening for us as members of the party that for the first time since 2015, the party does not have a single representation in the South-south.
“That is something I’m absolutely unhappy about. For the first time our party was the only party that has representation in all the states, except PDP in 2003 when President Obasanjo wanted to contest because in 1999 PDP had no representation in the South-west but for the first time the APC we had representation in all the geo-political zones since 2015 but now we have lost it.
“We have to work hard to regain it even though we won election fair and square in 2019, but that is something we can’t take for granted any longer.”
Recall that People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Governorship candidate, Mr Godwin Obaseki emerged winner of the Edo gubernatorial election held on Saturday, September 19.
In a landslide victory, Obaseki was declared by INEC’s Returning Officer, Prof. Akpofure Rim-Rukeh to have won by 307,955 votes to defeat APC candidate, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu who polled 223,619 votes.
The APC was popular in Edo and expected to win. Obaseki who thought he would vie for re-election under the APC could not secure the party’s governorship ticket and this development compelled him decamp to the PDP.
