Edo APC Primaries: Oshiomhole Meets Tinubu, Says President Wants Merit, Not Zoning

President Bola Tinubu has ruled out ‘zoning’ as a criteria for the inconclusive All Progressive Congress (APC) governorship primary election in Edo State.

Senator representing Edo North, Adams Oshiomhole, disclosed this to State House correspondents on Wednesday after meeting with the President at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

Oshiomhole met with the President at the State House after the APC national working committee (NWC) decided to conduct a rerun primary election in the State due to controversies in last week’s exercise.

According to Oshiomhole, Tinubu said he was only interested in a free, fair and transparent primary election and not ‘zoning’ arrangement.

He said: “They have a lot of rumours which I thought Mr. President should speak to and I needed some clarification from him because as the leader of the party, there are a couple of things that I want to be sure that I know where he stands.

“One of them is the issue of zoning. The President has affirmed that he has no voting right in Edo State. Even though the Edo people have the right to vote for the President, therefore, what matters to him is to ensure that APC members in Edo State in the direct primaries, participate in the free and fair primaries.

“That’s the decision of the President. There have been rumours in the air that there’s probably zoning to one area or zoning to another area.

“The President said that as far as he’s concerned, he is committed only to free and fair primaries not based on zoning.”

Oshiomhole, who’s a former national chairman of APC, insisted that the party’s direct governorship primary in Edo State must be free, fair and transparent without zoning or imposition of any candidate.

He debunked claims that he wanted to impose a candidate on the party or any interest in the direct primary election, which will be concluded on Thursday.

He said he has the authority of the President to categorically rule out zoning or any undemocratic practices in the exercise.

Oshiomhole said the President told him, that: “It is merit and fairness. Fairness is not by individual allocating, fairness is by the process; members participate in direct primaries.”

The former APC national chairman condemned attempts to impose zoning on Edo APC when it was not done in other APC states like Kogi and Benue States, which had candidates from the same region back-to-back.

He queried why Edo was being singled out, saying: “who are you and I to dictate to Edo APC members where their candidate must come from?”

Oshiomhole declared he does not believe in zoning or turn-by-turn democracy which he said kills fairness and imposes the minority on the majority.

He argued that he himself defeated a candidate from Benin zone back then without zoning but by gaining the support of the people across the state.

Oshiomhole said he was elected to the Senate even after being removed as the party’s national chairman because his constituents in Edo North still reposed confidence in him.

He maintained that he has a voting right and can advise on who to support just as former US President Barrack Obama openly campaigned for Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton.

Oshiomhole, however, said leaders must earn the trust of their constituents through good governance so they can gain respect when they endorse anyone for election.