Edo Guber Race: APC, PDP Set For Another Epic Battle
- Obaseki vs Ize-Iyamu again
- Support grows for gladiators
BY EDMOND ODOK – Barring the usual legal contestation and political shenanigans, the stage now looks set for another titanic battle over who occupies the Edo State Government House, Benin come September 19, 2020 gubernatorial poll.
As expected, Governor Godwin Obaseki on Thursday pulled all the required strings to emerge unopposed as the Peoples Democratic Democratic Party (PDP) flag-bearer in a no-contest poll.
On deployment by the country’s main opposition party was their famous ‘family affairs’ phrase as two other aspirants, Kenneth Imasuagbon and Omoregie Ogbeide-Ihama, who were challenging Obaseki for the PDP ticket, gleefully dropped their ambitions at the primary venue on Thursday after much horse-trading among various tendencies within the party.
The party’s primary, earlier scheduled for June 20, was shifted twice to 23rd and 25th of June, 2020 to accommodate the interest of Governor Obaseki who was initially disqualified from the race by the All Progressives Congress (APC) Screening Committee
Speaking on the exercise, Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State, who chaired the Governorship Primary Committee, said voting still took place in line with the party’s constitution, the Electoral Act as well as acceptable democratic practices.
He said at the end of voting, Obaseki polled 1,952 votes while 72 votes were declared invalid from the 2,020 total vote cast.
According to the Bauchi Chief Executive, the total number of delegates for the primary election were 3,234.
He therefore formally declared the results after confirmation by officials of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as well as security agencies present at the Samuel Ogbemudia stadium, venue of the exercise.
Interestingly, Governor Obaseki’s emergence came on the same day that an Edo state High Court sitting in Benin and the APC’s emergency National Executive Committee (NEC) gave his rival, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, a clean bill of health and endorsement to fly the APC flag in the forthcoming election.
