Members of the Edo All Progressives Congress (APC) Elders and Stakeholders’ Forum have appealed to the leadership of the party to conduct a transparent primary for the emergence of a credible governorship candidate in the forthcoming September poll.
The forum made the appeal after the national leadership of the APC replaced Governor Hope Uzodinma, with his Cross River State counterpart Bassey Out as the chairman of the Committee of the Edo State Governorship Party Primary.
While the group commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the leadership of the APC for appointing Out to supervise the election, it advised the party and the presidency against the imposition of any candidate on the state.
In a statement signed by its chairman Matthew Omoregie and secretary, Stephen Aigbe, the forum decried last weekend’s primary, which was supervised by Uzodinma that was cancelled by the party hierarchy.
While commending the swift intervention of the leadership of the party and the rescheduling of the primary, the elders advised Otu to adhere to the tenets of true democracy so that his name will remain on the fair side of history.
The group also called on Tinubu to recall in 2016, “during a similar primary when the people were denied the opportunity to choose their candidate. The process was hijacked and a candidate was imposed on the party by the erstwhile Governor Adams Oshiomhole.
“After winning the election, the imposed candidate (now Governor Godwin Obaseki) took party members through hell from 2016 and decamped to PDP in 2020,” the group said.
While pledging their support for President Tinubu and his administration, the elders urged the party leadership and the NWC “to ensure that democracy wins in Edo state as the party picks its governorship candidate for the September 2024 governorship election.”
The group however assured the party of victory in the September governorship election only if a candidate was not imposed on the party, saying that “party members across the state have developed strong feelings against anti-democratic practices” because of their bitter experience of the past.
