One of the factional candidates that emerged from the Saturday’s governorship primary of the Edo State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Monday Okpebholo aka Akpakomiza, has faulted the congratulatory message of the party’s national chairman, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje, to Mr Dennis Idahosa, another candidate, who was declared winner by Imo State governor Hope Uzodimma, describing it as misleading and an attempt to give credence to Idahosa’s claim to victory.
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.
Controversy on Saturday trailed the APC governorship primary as Governor Uzodimma, who doubled as the chairman of the APC primary in the state, declared Idahosa winner of the primary with 40,453 votes, while Dr Stanley Ugboaja, who was the Edo State Governorship Primary Returning Officer, at a separate venue, announced 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.
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.
He 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,” he said.
The media aide to the federal lawmaker said his principal had implicit confidence in the national and state leadership of the party to ensure that the victory of Okpebholo in the February 17 APC primary election is upheld.
