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The Edo State All Progressives Congress primary elections rescheduled for today, Thursday 22nd, February 2024 may no longer hold.
The above assertion was the view of the former aspirant in the party’s guber primary, Prince Kassim Afegbua who said none of the officiating members had arrived Benin due to inclement weather.
In a statement he made available to newsmen including veracitydesk.com.ng, earlier on Thursday, Afegbua who belongs to #TEAMDENCO 2024 said the Chairman of the Primary Election Committee, Governor Bassey Otu is yet to arrive Benin and other necessary arrangements are equally not in place which according to him are not making the possibility of the process to go on as planned.
It would be recalled that the National Working Committee (NWC) of the APC declared the governorship primary election which held on Saturday, 17th February 2024 in Edo State inconclusive.
Afegbua’s swift reaction on Thursday reads in full:
STOP PRESS!!. STOP PRESS!!!
PRIMARY ELECTION MAY NOT HOLD TODAY AFTERALL.
It is obvious that the primary election rescheduled for today, Thursday 22nd February may not hold afterall. As I write this, none of the officiating members has arrived Benin, ostensibly because of the bad weather that prevented flights yesterday from coming into Benin. Anybody who purports to be holding any primary election today when there has not been any briefing to spell out modalities for the exercise would be doing so on his own.
The Chairman of the Primary Election Committee His Excellency, Governor Bassey Otu has not arrived Benin as we speak due to bad weather for flights coming into Benin. And one of the arguments against the Hope Uzodinma-led Committee last week was that he arrived late in Benin. It only goes to suggest that since the new Chairman, Governor Bassey Otu would be arriving late, there won’t be any need to proceed on the primary election today. We will expect the Chairman and other committee members to brief representatives of all involved, including the new returning officers at the Wards and Local Government Areas, to avail them of the procedure. The names of the Wards returning officer are expected to be published on the notice board, as well as the Local Government Returning officers. Even when such has not been done, reports reaching us indicate that results are already being written by those who are poised to undermine the process. If an unpopular candidate is foisted on the party through such dubious process, it will spell doom for the party.
We expect the proper thing to be done without equivocation. This would be in line with the expectations of a credible, free and fair primary election at the 192 Wards across the state. It is to be noted also that election is expected to be conducted in all the 192 Wards against the erroneous impression that it is only some Local Governments that are affected. While we await the Chairman and his members to arrive, including the materials to be used, we want to inform our supporters to be vigilant and alert to any form of conspiracy that is being orchestrated to undermine the credibility of the process.
PRINCE KASSIM AFEGBUA
#TEAMDENCO 2024.
