2,873 delegates are expected to converge at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium in Benin city Saturday to elect the governorship candidate of the All progressives Congress (APC) ahead of the September governorship election in the state.
National Organising Secretary of the Party, Senator Osita Izunaso told The Nation in Abuja that the list was made of 2304 ward executive from the 192 wards, 468 local government executive from 18 local government areas of the state, 35 members of the state executive council of the party and 66 statutory delegates.
However Chairman of the Edo primary Elections Appeals Committee, Hon. Opeyemi Bamidele told The Nation that he will hold the state governor, Adams Oshiomhole to his words that there will be a level playing field for all the aspirants in today’s primary.
Bamidele said even though there has been allegation the governor was supporting one of the aspirants, Governor Oshiomhole has consistently assured that there will be a level playing field for everybody, adding that if the governor can insist on a repeat of the Bayelsa primary because he felt things were not done properly, there was no reason to believe that the primary in Edo will not be free and fair.
The former lawmaker said: “My expectation is that we have a primary election that is free, fair and transparent for all to see. This has become necessary due to the nature of our own democratic experience so far. We cannot really talk about democracy without internal party democracy.
“The process of selecting a candidate for the party must be really transparent and must be such that at the end of the day, when a winner emerges, it will be easier to manage because everybody would have seen that there was fair play. It is always a very difficult situation to manage when aspirants are aggrieved.
“Unfortunately in our own clime, hardly will people want to concede defeat. But if you make the process as transparent as possible, the generality of the people would have seen that the leadership of the party would do its best in ensuring that there was a fair process.
“The setting up of the Appeals Committee was not done because of the expectations that there will be problem. It is better to go into this assuming that everything will be ok, but that will not be enough to stop the party from fulfilling electoral guideline and to meet the expectations of INEC and the courts. By tour expectations is that we have a primary that is free and fair.”
He said further that “a number of aspirants have alleged that Oshiomhole has endorsed a particular aspirant. The leadership of the party has been in touch with him and up till this moment, he has continued to assure members of the party in Edo and the leadership of the party in Edo state that he was doing everything possible to ensure a level playing field for all the aspirants.
“In any case, it goes beyond that because it is not going to be his words against the aspirants because he has nothing to do with the primary. The leadership of the party, through the National Working Committee is accepting responsibility for the primary and has set up the relevant committees to conduct the election. Another governor is going to conduct the election.
“One thing that is important is that Governor Masari himself had been a victim if lack of transparency and I wouldn’t expect anything less from him. Governor Oshiomhole was in Bayelsa state handling a similar thing as the Chairman the Bayelsa state primary committee and he had to insist in a repeat of the primary after a winner was supposed to have emerged because he didn’t think the process was fair enough.
“If he could do that in Bayelsa, I don’t see what will hinder the process in Edo stage because it is always easier to manage the fall out when you do the right thing and It is easier to talk to people and for the people to talk to their supporters. It is always complicated when the process is manipulated.
“No matter what anybody think, I still believe that Governor Oshiomhole will not be in a position to negatively influence the primary election. Speaking from personal experience, I can tell how destructive and how bitter people can feel when they feel that you have manipulated the process of selecting a candidate in some cases.
“The manipulation so could have been done long ago even before the primary itself. It could have happened at the level of selection of delegates or ward executives or state executive. That is why you see some congresses of the parties are characterized by so much violence.
“The APC has learnt from the mistakes of the past, not mistakes as APC, but the component units that formed the party. Everybody is concerned about the situation in Edo, but we are all working at our best to ensure that at the end of the day, we are able to deliver the promises of the leadership of the party that there will be a level playing ground in the selection of the candidate of the party.
“In a state where you have at least twelve aspirants, you should expect that there will be misgivings. But what will be most important will be how the leadership of the party respond to the situation as well as how party stakeholders from other parts of the country drafted to go and conduct the election conduct themselves and that is where the issue of appeal also comes in.
“Every petition written by an aspirant ought to be accorded its priority and the petitioner given fair hearing. Anything short of this can only lead to political calamity.
“You will be on the highway t nowhere if the human and materials resources are invested in an election and at the end of the day, you have people within the party engaging in anti party activities just because the leadership mismanaged the fall out. I want to hold the governor to his word and his promises that everybody will be have a level playing field.
“The national working committee has released to us the list of delegates and so, no new delegates will be brought in by any of the parties. So, it is a process that is also standardized and all the committee members need to do is to stick to the rules and ensure that no one come to change the rules at the middle of the game. That will be easier to explain and defend.
“Even if you are under pressure, you can only create more crisis by yielding to such pressure. But if you are able to stand your ground, you would not only have maintained the integrity of the process, but everyone involved will be known by their principled stand.”
