Nine gubernatorial aspirants of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, on Sunday boycotted the ward congress organised by the leadership of the party ahead of February 22 primary election in the state.
DAILY NIGERIAN gathered that the boycotting aspirants are mostly members of the Edo PDP Legacy Group, a faction loyal to Dan Orbi, National Vice Chairman of the party in South-South.
In a letter of withdrawal addressed to the acting national chairman of the party and copied to the national vice chairman, South-South, the aspirants protested the process and composition of those to conduct the delegates election.
Those who signed the petition included the deputy governor, Philip Shaibu; Rt Hon Omoregie Ogbeide-Ihama; Anselm U. Ojezua; Hon Felix Akhabue; Amb. Martin Uhomoibhi; Hadizat Umoru; Hon. Omosede Igbinedion; Dr Earl Osaro Onaiwu and Barr. Arthur Esene.
Also, the chairman of the three-man committee and Governor of Oyo State, Seyi Makinde, withdrew from the exercise, paving the way for the vice chairman and Enugu State governor, Peter Mbah, to step in.
Mr Mbah, however, commended the high turnout of party supporters for the exercise.
Addressing party faithfuls at the George Idah Primary School Benin City which is the collation center for Ward 2, Mr Mbah said: “This is a democracy where our people come to exercise their franchise, we appreciate this turnout, our party is known for its principles which is fairness, equity and justice. I wish you to all conduct yourselves properly as we hold this election.”
Speaking to journalists in his Ward 4 Collation Centre, Idia College, Edo State governor, Godwin Obaseki, said the crisis in the party was being overhyped, assuring that it would not affect the outcome of the governorship election.
He said: “You can see from the crowd here that it is a lot of success, a huge turnout, we had over 600 people coming out to participate here, our people of very politically aware we are happy with this turn out to elect delegates for our gubernatorial primary and we are also expecting this huge turnout in the main election.”
On the resignation of Mr Makinde from the committee, Mr Obaseki said: “It is unfortunate that Makinde withdrew; there are three governors, and he is only one of them, so withdrawing does not remove the credibility of the process and it is not just the process and what makes a process credible is the quality of the participation and you can see for yourself.
“So it is unfortunate that Governor Makinde had to take such a decision, but I hope that all our efforts to continue to unify the party and pacify all players will continue.
“We are not deterred at all, we are going to make sure that PDP plays its role in the politics of this country.”
Speaking on the non-participation of members of the Legacy Coalition of the PDP, he said: “You cannot have a hundred percent, clearly you can see the crowd here.
“When we were in APC before we joined the PDP, we didn’t have these numbers so clearly the people we met in the party are still in the party.
“The crisis is hyped, it is not as fundamental as it is made to look on ground, there is very little crisis, the crisis is fanned from outside and our people are smarter than that.
“You will see during the main election, we are not going to allow ourselves to be sold.”
