Edo APC primary: Prof. Osunbor storms party, submits petition

Following the controversies that surrounded the recently conducted All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship primary election in Edo state, another aspirant, Prof Oserheimen Osunbor on Tuesday submitted a petition to the party.

Osunbor’s application is coming after an aspirant, Hon. Anamero Sunday Dekeri stormed the party headquarters on Monday, demanding that the certificate of returns be given to him as the ‘winner’ of the Edo state party primary.

Briefing journalists after meeting with the Primary election appeal panel in the APC National Secretariat, Prof Osunbor expressed dissatisfaction with the outcome of the election.

He also queried the process, alleging that no primary election held in the state.

“There was no primary election conducted anywhere in Edo state and there is a video which has gone viral of me addressing people in my ward. At the designated point in my ward, we were there, up to about three o’clock and soon after i left the place and went home, I saw somebody declaring result in my local government when there was nobody that came to my local government. I was seeing on television, somebody said to be a returning officer declaring result of a primary election that never took place at all”, he emphasised.

When asked about the results announcement in a hotel in the state, the governorship aspirant said, “Primary elections don’t take place in the hotel, primary elections take place at the designated points in each of the 192 wards of Edo state.

“I have seen the statement credited to the Resident Electoral Commissioner, that the primary he witnessed was the one that took place in the hotel in Benin.

“You are enlightened gentlemen of the press, is that how they conduct direct primary elections? So that is self admission that the direct primaries were not conducted in accordance with the law, the guidelines, the APC constitution, the Electoral Act.

“What you saw was not conducted in accordance with the provisions of those relevant laws or statutes because as confirmed by the REC, the only primary election he witnessed was the one that took place in the hotel in Benin City, that is a self indictment of the entire process,” he added.