APC Primaries: Ihonvbere Loses Reps Return Ticket In Edo

The Majority Leader of the House of Representatives, Prof. Julius Ihonvbere, has lost his bid to return to the Green Chamber after being defeated in the All Progressives Congress (APC) primary election for Owan Federal Constituency in Edo State.

The primary, held at the party secretariat in Afuze, saw former Edo State Commissioner for Mining, Andrew Ijegbai, emerge winner with 3,695 votes.

Announcing the result, the Returning Officer, Kelvin Muhammed, said five aspirants participated in the contest.

He said Abdul Oroh polled 1,740 votes, while Ihonvbere scored 1,005 votes. Folly Ogidegbe got 505 votes, and Barrister Stewart secured 642 votes.

Muhammed added that a total of 7,587 votes were cast in the exercise and declared Ijegbai as the party’s candidate for the constituency.

“The winner of this contest and the party’s candidate for the House of Representatives election is Hon. Andrew Ijegbai,” he said.

Reacting, Ijegbai commended the APC leadership and delegates for what he described as a transparent and credible process, pledging to offer quality representation if elected.

In a related development, the member representing Oredo Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Eseosa Iyawe, also lost his re-election bid in the APC primary.