The crisis rocking the conduct of last Saturday’s All Progressives Congress (APC) Edo State governorship primary election, which led the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) to declare the exercise inconclusive, took a fresh twist on Wednesday, February 21.
The party announced the removal of Governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo state as the chairman of the Election Primary Committee.
He has been replaced by Senator Bassey Otu, the deputy chairman of the committee and the governor of Cross River state.
A release titled “Revised 2024 Edo State Governorship Primary Election and Primary Election Appeal Committees” by Alhaji Sulaiman Muhammadu Arugungu, National Organising Secretary in Abuja on Wednesday showed that Hon. Shetimma Shitu has been added to the committee, to retain its 7-man status.
The release also showed that the party’s highest administrative organ retained the membership of the 5-man Barrister C. C Udenwa-led Primary Election Appeal Committee.
The Nation learnt of this development followed a series of protests both in Benin and Abuja calling on the chairman of the Progressive Governors’ Forum (PGF) to step down from conducting the concluding process of the inconclusive shadow election billed for Thursday (today).
It was further gathered that the decision to relieve the Imo State from the exercise was reached on Tuesday night during the emergency meeting of the NWC.
The Nation also gathered that the concluding part of the election process will be to complete the collation of the results of the election in the remaining 10 local government areas of the state.
According to a highly placed source in the Directorate of Organisation of the party when asked what format the exercise will take, he simply said: “We will continue where we stopped. The process was going on before the disruption by thugs and since the committee has already collated results from the field from 8 local government areas, they are expected to conclude the exercise by collating results from the remaining 10 local government areas.”
On the three petitions already submitted by the three aspirants, our source simply said: “The issue of the petition cannot be on the front burner now. The process is yet to be completed. It is after the exercise is completed that we talk of petition.”
He added: “The Barrister C. C Udenwa is still in place to attend to any petition. But that will be after the exercise is completed.”
Former Director-General of the Voice of Nigeria (VON), Osita Okechukwu, had in a statement in Abuja criticised the mismanagement of the Edo State governorship primary election and asked members of the PGF to drop Uzodinma as their chairman.
The Directorate of Political Affairs and Governance of the African Civil Society Forum in Abuja also asked the Imo state governor to step aside ahead of Thursday’s rescheduled continuation of the exercise.
At APC national headquarters a group of placard-carrying youths under the aegis of APC Youth Solidarity Network stormed Muhammadu Buhari House to ask the Abdullahi Umar Gabduje-led NWC to drop Uzodinma from superintending the rescheduled election.
