One of the factional candidates in the Saturday’s governorship primary election of the Edo State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Monday Okpebholo. a.k.a Akpakomiza, has faulted the congratulatory message from the National Chairman of APC, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje, to Dennis Idahosa, another candidate who claimed victory at the primary election exercise, describing the action as misleading and an attempt give credence to his rival’s claim to victory.
Senator Okpebholo, who spoke through the Director of Media and Publicity of Senator Monday Okpebholo Governorship Campaign Organisation, Godswill Inegbe, said Ganduje as the father and respected leader of the party couldn’t have hurriedly issued a congratulatory message when controversies and other issues characterised the announcement of the results of the exercise.
It would be recalled that controversy trailed the APC governorship primaries as Imo State governor, Hope Uzodinma, who doubled as the chairman of the APC primary election committee in Edo State, declared Idahosa winner of the primary election with 40,453 votes, while Dr Stanley Ugboaja, who was the Edo State Governorship Primary Returning Officer, at a separate venue, announced Senator Okpebholo winner having scored 12,145 votes.
The Okpebholo Campaign Organisation in a swift reaction to the news making the rounds that the National Chairman of the party had congratulated Idahosa said such couldn’t have come from the Ganduje in view of the issues surrounding the outcome of the primaries.
Mr Inegbe noted that in his phone conversation with the Chief Press Secretary to the National Chairman of APC on Sunday morning, Mr Edwin Olofo, he neither confirmed nor acknowledged that the statement came from him.
Inegbe said, “My conversation with Edwin Olofo was shocking and revealing to say the least. I am the Press Secretary to Senator Okpebholo, and in any given circumstance when I release a statement on behalf of my principal, if anyone across the world reaches out to me for confirmation, I do so with all pleasure and authority, because my statements are approved and authorised by my principal.
“However, in this case, when I called Mr Olofo for confirmation of the purported congratulatory message from the National Chairman of APC allegedly authored by him, he couldn’t confirm that the statement was released by him.”
The media aide to the federal lawmaker said his principal had implicit confidence in the national and state leadership of the ruling party to ensure that the victory of Senator Okpebholo in the February 17, 2024 APC primary election was upheld.