The National Working Committee (NWC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has said there would be no going back on the results of the screening of governorship aspirants for Edo last week.
National Chairman of the APC, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, disclosed this to State House Correspondents on Monday evening after the NWC’s meeting with the Chief of Staff to the President, Professor Ibrahim Gambari, at the Presidential Villa.
Oshiomhole, who led other members of the NWC to the meeting, also allayed fears that the party might lose Edo to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) if Governor Godwin Obaseki, decamps and eventually gets its governorship ticket.
Others present at the meeting were the Chairman of the Progressive Governors’ Forum (PGF) and Governor of Kebbi State, Atiku Bagudu as well as four members of the APC NWC, including the National Vice Chairman (North West) Barr. Inuwa Abdulkadir; National Treasurer, Adamu Panda; National Welfare Officer, Ibrahim Masari and National Publicity Secretary, Malam Lanre Issa-Onilu.
Speaking on the recently held APC governorship screening exercise, which disqualified Obaseki from contesting, Oshiomhole said the process was thoroughly taken to avert incidences that could give room for legal technicalities in the future.
“We have these three gentlemen on parade to contest the primaries, which has been slated for the 22nd of June, in line with the provisions of our Constitution, we will do direct primaries. It’s more democratic, less susceptible to corrupt practices and it makes the party to be membership driven.
“It’s always for me something interesting that after you have picked your candidate by a handful of elites, you’ll now organise a rally to introduce to the members who is going to contest an election.
“They are supposed to bring the members to us and we can only achieve that through direct primaries.
“So we are doing everything possible, having completed the issue of screening and we have upheld the result of the screening committee, we are proceeding now to conduct the primaries, God willing, on the 22nd of June in Edo State.
“One person appealed his disqualification and he had ample opportunity to approach the Appeal Committee and even with the benefit of coming with his lawyer because this time, because of what happened in Bayelsa, we have decided that we have to be very strict. There are always two issues that lead to disqualification after elections, as you saw in Bayelsa, we won the election, but for technical reasons, we lost it at the Supreme Court.
“We have decided we should look at the composition of the committee, we have very senior lawyers, professors of law, we have various professors who should be familiar with the issues of certificate, because those are always the booby traps; whether there are impunities or contradictions or forged documents.
“Then we have lawyers who have handled election tribunal, they know the issues that people can raise, once you have filed your nomination because the courts have said INEC cannot screen candidates, the power to screen candidates, it’s exclusively part of the party.
“So if the party mismanages the process and they produce someone who has a fake certificate or multiple age or issues of spelling, those lawyers know what can lead to disqualification.
“So we have confidence in the report they gave us, but in line with our democratic practice and as stated in our Constitution, they also had an opportunity to make an appeal and that opportunity was provided. One of them took advantage of it, unfortunately he wasn’t successful. The appeal panel still reaffirmed the findings of the lower party.
“We are getting ready for the primary on the 22nd and we pray that God will preside over the exercise, it will be free fair and transparent and we’ll have a candidate that can unify the party in state,” he said.
Speaking on the possibility of the APC losing Edo State to the PDP in a situation reminiscent of the Benue experience, Oshiomhole said incumbency alone was not enough to give victory in an election, pointing out the fact that the peculiar political sentiments of Edo State would determine the winner.
“All those who decamped with Saraki, they all lost. Those who did not decamp, Bauchi, Adamawa, sitting governors lost. Even Governor Kayode Fayemi, as a sitting governor, was defeated by Fayose so there’s no evidence that being a sitting governor guarantees you victory. It all depends on the local sentiments in the state.
“I think we need to get away from this fixation. Whether in America, Britain or in Nigeria, there are plethora of cases where sitting governors lost, sitting senators left, sitting reps lost.
“There’s no guarantee that if you field somebody because he has incumbency you’ll win. Incumbency also has its liability, depending on the sentiment of the people of the state,”he argued.
