For the All Progressives Congress candidate in the Edo State governorship election, Monday Okpebholo, the journey was fraught with anxiety. However, he ultimately had all the elements aligned in his favour, enabling him to realise his dream of becoming the next occupant of the Osadebe House, writes ’LAOLU AFOLABI
The Independent National Electoral Commission held the highly anticipated governorship election in Edo State on Saturday. In the lead-up to the election, the atmosphere was charged with tension, largely due to the heated exchanges and threats exchanged between the competing political parties. To ensure a smooth electoral process, more than 43,000 policemen, along with various other security personnel, were deployed across the state by Friday.
Despite the palpable anxiety and the potential for unrest, the election unfolded with relative peace. Voters participated in the process, demonstrating their civic duty amid concerns about political antics and interference. While the election was not entirely free from the usual manoeuvring characteristic of political contests, it proceeded without the widespread violence that had been feared.
At the end of the exercise, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Monday Okpebholo, polled 291,667 votes to defeat his closest rival and the Peoples Democratic Party candidate, Asue Ighodalo, who garnered 247,274 votes. The third force, the Labour Party, did not spring the much-expected surprise as its candidate, Olumide Akpata, managed to get a scanty 22,763 votes.
The election was keenly contested. It was initially a three-horse race, but it eventually ended in a two-horse contest. It was battle royale between the PDP and the APC. The contest was intense and fierce and a battle of supremacy between two titans, a former governor, Adams Oshiomhole and the incumbent. Godwin Obaseki.
There had been agitation over zoning as the Edo Central desired to produce Obaseki’s successor at the Dennis Osadebe Government House in Benin City. Since the commencement of the democratic dispensation, Edo South has had their chances two times with Lucky Igbinedion and now Obaseki, both governing the state for 16 years. Edo North had its opportunity through the eight-year term of Oshiomhole. Edo Central had a brief stint at the Government House with Prof Oserheimen Osunbor between 2007 and 2008 before he was ousted by Oshiomhole through the courts.
The journey to Saturday’s election had a dint of suspense, fear and anxiety for all stakeholders and party leadership. All the major political parties, the PDP, APC and Labour Party, had issues with the primary elections that produced their candidates. The parties, however, sorted all the legal and internal encumbrances before the election, though with attendant consequences and bandwagon effects, with only the APC left with a mild scar.
The Edo APC primary election was conducted on February 17, 2024 amid a crisis. The Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodimma, led a seven-man committee to oversee the primary. It, however, became controversial. Ahead of the exercise, a frontline governorship aspirant and former candidate of the party in the 2020 election against Obaseki, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, stepped down.
After the exercise, three “candidates” emerged. A member of the House of Representatives, Dennis Idahosa, was declared the winner by the Uzodimma committee, having polled 40,453 votes. Another aspirant, Monday Okpebholo, was returned by the Chief Returning Officer, Dr Stanley Ogboaja. Furthermore, the spokesman of the Local Government Returning Officers, Ojo Babatunde, declared Anamero Dekeri as another governorship candidate of the party.
This forced the party to summon an emergency meeting, where the February 17 exercise was declared inconclusive. Also, some of the aspirants petitioned President Bola Tinubu, blaming Oshiomhole for alleged high-handedness. Some other party chieftains, including a former governor of Ekiti State, Dr Kayode Fayemi, blamed the former governor for causing a crisis in the party as he did in the build-up to the 2020 election.
The President would, however, not blame Oshiomhole as he summoned stakeholders and called for fair play. After the meeting, Oshiomhole spoke, claiming that the President was not for zoning but a fair poll. He gave the example of Kogi State, where a kinsman of the immediate-past governor took over the reins of leadership.
The party constituted another committee headed by the Cross River State Governor, Bassey Otu, to re-conduct the exercise February 22, 2024. At the rescheduled exercise, Okpebholo defeated other aspirants to emerge the party’s candidate. Following the announcement, Idahosa approached the court, protesting the result of the exercise. Oshiomhole also maintained a distance.
The party was, however, determined to foster peace. The President intervened by summoning the meeting of the stakeholders from the state and the national leadership of the party to Abuja for March 18. At the meeting, Oshiomhole, Okpebholo, Idahosa, Matthew Urhogide and other party chieftains were present.
The national leadership of the party, led by its national chairman, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje, was also present. It was agreed at the meeting that Idahosa be nominated as the running mate to Okpebholo, as the President asked him to withdraw his protest litigation. A visibly elated President asked Oshiomhole after the meeting, “Adams, are we doing well? You sure?” to which he replied, “Yes sir, we are good to go.”
Following the reconciliation move, the party leaders met at Oshiomhole’s house on April 3, 2024, to resolve whatever lingering internal crisis trailing the primary. Both Okpebholo and Idahosa were at the meeting. Addressing the meeting, Oshiomhole declared that the post-primary crisis in the party had been resolved. The same day, the party received eight former Local Government Areas chairmen and members of the PDP into its fold at the former governor’s residence.
By July 5, during another meeting with the President, Oshiomhole had taken the leadership of the campaign for Okpebholo, as he led the candidates and other party leaders, alongside the Minister of Niger Delta Development, Abubakar Momoh, to a meeting with the President at the Presidential Villa.
Another crisis well managed by the party was the return of the Deputy Governor, Philip Shaibu, to the APC. Shaibu had indicated interest in succeeding Obaseki and in a bid to achieve his ambition, he fell out with his principal. He participated in the PDP primary conducted in February and emerged winner in a parallel exercise. He was then impeached as the deputy governor by the state House of Assembly in April.
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Following his impeachment, he vowed to ensure the candidate of the PDP, Asue Ighodalo, did not win the election. He returned to the APC July 20 and was well-received by the party leadership in the state and nationally. His impeachment was overturned by the High Court on July 17 and the Appeal Court on August 20.
In politics, there’s no permanent friend or enemy, so goes a saying. This played out as Philip reconciled with Oshiomhole and they both worked for the election, campaigning everywhere for Okpebholo’s victory.
For the PDP, Ighodalo emerged as its candidate for the 2024 Edo State governorship election on February 22. However, a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja nullified the primary on the ground that 378 delegates who were to vote during the exercise were unlawfully denied their rights to vote. Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court, Abuja, on July 4 declared the exercise, which produced Ighodalo as its governorship candidate, invalid.
The judgment was for the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/165/2024, brought by aggrieved delegates, notably Kelvin Mohammed, in a representative capacity.
On August 26, the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja set aside a judgment delivered by Justice Ekwo and in agreement with the submission of the PDP, who had appealed the ruling of the lower court in a 25-ground appeal, the court argued that the issue of primary is an internal matter within the political party and, as such, outside the jurisdiction of any court. It declared that a primary election is an internal affair of any political party; hence the plaintiff’s grievances cannot be entertained by any court, as they are not contesting political office but selected to only participate in the selection of a candidate for the party.
