From Taiwo Amodu, Abuja
In spite of a court judgment stripping him of his claim to the position of national chairman of the PDP, former Borno State governor, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff yesterday presented Matthew Iduoriyekwemen as the candidate of the party for the election.
A federal high court in Port Harcourt had on Monday axed Senator Ali Modu Sheriff as the party’s chairman and further
declared that the Senator Ahmed Makarfi caretaker committee was properly constituted.
But the former Borno State governor presented a certificate of return to Iduoriyekwemen as the party’s candidate. Daily Sun gathered that the Senator Makarfi team had earlier presented Pastor Ize Iyamu as the party’s standard bearer.
Speaking with newsmen, the former Borno State governor said he would be presenting Matthew Iduoriyekweme to the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) as he claimed that he remained the party chairman by virtue of the pronouncement of Justice Okon Abang of Federal High Court in Abuja.
He said: “It is clear that from Abuja High Court that INEC is obliged to accept the candidate we are to present.
“You know ideally, most of our officials have travelled for Sallah. We need to do this because the first working day, we are going to submit our candidate’s form to INEC.
“I have to stay behind to do some of the things so as to ensure that the forms are submitted after the Sallah break,” Sheriff stated.
Former Special Adviser on National. Assembly Matters, and Secretary of the committee that conducted the parallel primary election, Alhaji Ahmed Gulak, said a total of 677 delegates were accredited while 502 delegates voted. He disclosed that Iduoriyekwemwen scored 481 votes. Iduoriyekwemwen promised to embark on grassroots campaign and assured that PDP would come back stronger in Edo after the governorship election.
APC running mate: Edo Central hopeful
From Tony Osauzo, Benin
There are indications that the All Progressives Congress (APC), in Edo State, may pick its running mate from Edo Central (Esanland), as part of the efforts to mainstream the senatorial district into the political structure of the state.
If the party cedes the running mate to the Central Senatorial District, it will be following the footsteps of the opposition PDP which picked its running mate from the area on Monday.
In a bid to present a united front to achieve their dream, party leaders from the district are believed to have also settled for a candidate from Agbazilo axis of the senatorial district.
Speaking to journalists in Benin City, Chief Francis Inegbeneki, one of the leaders and APC chieftain, said “before the party primaries, I led leaders from Esanland to meet with the governor…and it was agreed that after the primaries the party will meet to decide the issue of a deputy governor.
“We also discussed the fact that Edo Central or Esan must be given priority in the choice of who gets the deputy governorship”, adding that, “there is no controversy about where the gubernatorial running mate is coming from.
“Any right-thinking politician will know that it is not politically wise to give the deputy governor’s slot to a zone which has the outgoing governor. Edo North has the governor with the deputy from Edo South right now, so if Edo South has the governor in the coming dispensation, Edo Central should have the deputy”.
He argued that it is in the interest of fairness and equity that the Esan people who have been left out of the power structure in the state be given the deputy governor’s position, especially as the only position of Assembly Speaker they had was taken from them and given to Edo South which is set to produce the governor.
APC chieftain drums support for Obaseki
From Ighomuaye Lucky, Benin
A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, Mr. Roy Osatohanmwen Osariemen has said that himself and the entire people of Orhionmwon will remain committed to the course of delivering the All Progressives Congress governorship candidate, Mr. Godwin Obaseki in the September 10 election in the state.
Speaking to journalists, Osariemen said the entire Local Government Area is absolutely behind the candidature of Godwin Obaseki in spite of the fact that one of the major opposition candidates, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) also comes from Orhionmwon Local Government.
“As a member and an executive of the APC in my Local Government, we are working round the clock tirelessly to deliver Orhionmwon for Godwin Obaseki . We know Orhionmwon is very peculiar in this election as one of the major opposition candidates is from Orhionmwon, yet, we are assuring him that he will get our 100 per cent support,” he said.
He refuted the widely speculated rumours that there were crises rocking the boat of the party, pointing out that grievances after every primaries are expected but as a party that envisages that, it has also put machinery in place to ensure that aggrieved individuals are brought together on a roundtable to resolve their differences in the interest of the party whose sole purpose is to usher in the dividends of democracy to the doorsteps of the people of the state.
Osariemen urged the aggrieved contestants who lost out in the primaries to accept the result in good faith as the party cannot afford to be divided at this present time that the governorship election is just by the corner.
While commending the committee that conducted the primaries, Osariemen said the process that threw up Godwin Obaseki was credible and transparent, saying that it was laughable for some individuals to have said that the APC governorship candidate was an unknown figure in the state.
“It was laughable with the way some persons were busy spreading rumours that the popularity of the APC candidate was unknown prior to the election. He scored the highest number of votes cast by the representatives of the 192 wards in the state. This went a long way to show the popularity of Obaseki in the state.
“He contested the primaries alongside one time governor and a former governorship candidate and other political bigwigs to eventually emerge top. He is a popular candidate and I am rest assured that he is the next governor of Edo State”, he said.
Osariemen however advised the people of the state to vote wisely as the developmental strides of the Oshiomole-led administration has been very visible for all in the state to see, noting that there is the need for them to vote for continuity as it is clear that the APC has lifted the veil of bad government and leadership from the faces of the people of the state.
Airhiavbere takes PDP leaders to task
…Says Ize-Iyamu’s emergence dead on arrival
Former governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the 2012 general election, Major-General Charles Airhiavbere (rtd), has taken a swipe at leaders of the party over comments made by Chief Tom Ikimi at the campaign flag off of Pastor Ize-Iyamu on Monday.
Airhiavbere, now a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress in Edo State, said the trio of Chief Tom Ikimi, Chief Gabriel Igbinedion and Chief Tony Anenih cannot win the September 10 elections for Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu.
He stated this while reacting to the red card issued to Governor Adams Oshiomhole and the All Progressive Congress in Edo State and urged the PDP leaders to stop toying with the emotions of Edo people.
According to the retired General, it was unfair for Ikimi to say former President Goodluck Jonathan was an anti-party leader for allegedly ensuring the success of Governor Oshiomhole in 2012.
Pointing out that the leadership structure of the party has changed, the former PDP candidate said the leaders were jokers to think of defeating Governor Oshiomhole and the APC in the elections because “they are going to have me to deal with”.
General Airhiavbere particularly lashed at Chief Ikimi for referring to the new general hospital as a glorified clinic when he (Chief Ikimi) was paid N350m as a consultant to design the hospital, even as he urged the PDP leaders to bow their heads in shame after being part of a government that rule and ruin the state between 1999 and 2007.
“I was the candidate of the PDP in the 2012 governorship elections. For Pastor Ize-Iyamu and Tom Ikimi to say former President Jonathan is an anti-party leader is unfair. They were unfair to Jonathan as a president of this country and a leader of the PDP as at that time.”
“We have reached a stage where PDP leaders should stop toying with the emotions of Edo people. Ize-Iyamu’s emergence as PDP candidate is dead on arrival. How can the PDP win elections here when it can abandon its candidate in 2012?
“In 2011 and 2012, Chief Tony Anenih told the public that he sold his house to lead the governorship campaign but today it is in the public glare that Jonathan sent money for that election. I was an orphan at the tribunal up to the Supreme Court. I know the role the leaders of the party played during my elections.
“They sold Oshiomhole to the Edo people four years ago because of their inordinate ambition. Today, they are not talking about Edo people; they are talking about how Oshiomhole betrayed them. It was because Oshiomhole did not agree with them to give Ize-Iyamu the ticket”, Gen. Airhiavbere said.