February 22, (THEWILL) – One of the governorship aspirants of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in Edo State, has withdrawn from the ongoing primary election of the party.
Ogbeide-Ihama stated this in a letter addressed to the National Secretary of the party, Sam Anyanwu and copied to the National Working Committee (NWC), of the PDP.
The letter reads in part: “Over a year ago, In response to the overwhelming calls from a diverse section of our citizenry, | began the painstaking consultation process with various stakeholders in our state.
“Based on their response, | set out on the journey of contesting for the governorship position of Edo State, following all the laid down processes provided by our party’s National Working Committee.
“Unfortunately, the process was corrupted by the several Irregularities that marked the ward congress organized by our party in the state. I and eight other aspirants voiced our dissatisfaction with the transparency of the process and the culpability of the committee that was sent to oversee the process. It was glaring that the process had been skewed to favour a particular aspirant unjustly.
“As committed party members, we followed established processes to express our dissatisfaction by approaching both appeal panels set up to address issues arising from the congress with evidence of apparent violations of the guidelines published by the party.
“Unfortunately, the National Working Committee with the intention to deny aspirants a level playing field sadly ignored the recommendations from both panels. This situation has made it impossible to continue with a process In which I have lost confidence in its integrity and credibility.
“Having consulted with my family, key stakeholders, and supporters, I have taken the hard, honourable, and logical decision to withdraw from the process of selecting a candidate for our party for the 2024 Edo Governorship Elections.
“I will further communicate my subsequent actions with you if and when necessary.”
Meanwhile, the Deputy Governor of Edo State, Philip Shuaibu, has emerged as the parallel governorship candidate of the PDP for the September 21 governorship poll.
THEWILL reports that while some delegates were being accredited to proceed to the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium venue of the authentic primary election, another set of delegates met at a facility on Commercial Avenue in Benin City where they announced Shaibu as the elected candidate of the PDP.
They claimed that they went to the same accreditation venue but were chased away by security agents. They also alleged that the list of delegates published by the national leadership of the party was not the authentic one used for accreditation, alleging that they saw names of people from Bayelsa State and names of people who are members of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), on the list being used.
Declaring Shaibu winner of the parallel primary election, Bartholomew Moses said “During the counting of this primary election, Philip Shaibu has a score of 301 votes and, therefore, we hereby declare Philip Shaibu as the authentic elected candidate for this election in the PDP.”
The party members had barely finished their exercise when gunmen invaded the venue. They were dressed in vigilante outfits and came in several vehicles, including two black unmarked Toyota Hiace trucks, an unmarked white Sienna, a white Hilux and several other vehicles.
They shot sporadically into the air and the party faithful scampered for safety in different directions.
Before the parallel election, the delegates led by Festus Owu, had protested at the deputy governor’s official lodge, where they complained to him that they had been disenfranchised
Speaking to the protesting delegates, Shaibu said: “I appeal to all of you to be peaceful, I don’t want anybody to be injured, I don’t want anybody molested and I am happy the way you have conducted yourselves peacefully and have come to report to me that you were not allowed to be accredited but I want to tell you that no one man can determine the destiny of a people and by the grace of God they cannot disenfranchise you, people.
“The law is clear that you people are the authentic delegates. Now that they have pushed you away, they want to go and replace you but I assure you that your votes must count, they cannot change and replace your names. I assure you that I will take your protest to the committee that is coming, but you must remain peaceful in everything you are doing.”
Speaking to journalists later, Shaibu also said: “I saw the crowd outside and I asked who they were and they said they were delegates, I said they should be directed to the venue of the accreditation but they said they were protesting because they have been sent away from the venue of accreditation and they won their election and they have their results. The election will hold and if a winner emerges with fake delegates, the election will not see the light of the day but if a winner emerges with the authentic delegates, there will be no problem, I am sure.”
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