Edo APC: Sen. Okpebholo writes Appeal Committee to issue him certificate of return

• Says only 24,000 accredited members voted in guber primaries

By Jude Opara, Abuja

Sen. Monday Okpebholo, one of the candidates in last Saturday’s Edo state governorship primaries of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has revealed that contrary to claims by chairman of the electoral committee, Governor Hope Uzodimma that Hon. Dennis Idahosa won the contest by 40,000 votes, only 24,000 members of the party were accredited to vote during the exercise.
To this effect, Sen. Okpebholo has written to the Appeal Committee of the party to issue him a certificate of return as the winner of the contest, with over 12,000, out of the 24,000 accredited voters.
In the letter addressed to the Appeal panel, the Edo Central lawmaker explained how the elections committee constituted by the National Working Committee (NWC) of APC, led by the Chief State Electoral Officer/Returning Officer, Dr Stanley Ugboaja, successfully conducted the polls, where 12 aspirants competed.
According to him, the results announced by Governor Uzodimma were not a true reflection of what happened, as confirmed by the returning officer.
Okpebholo, while appealing to the Committee, said having satisfied the conditions spelt out, that he should be duly recognized as the governorship candidate of the APC in Edo state ahead of the September 21 governorship election.
He said, “My humble appeal to your respected Committee is to look at the facts that I have presented and affirm them as cogent, and verifiable, apply the relevant provisions of the law guiding our primary elections and uphold the result collated, signed and announced by the, and proceed with the official process by issuing me the Certificate of Declaration as the Winner of the 2024 Edo State Gubernatorial Primary Election.
“I have implicit confidence in the integrity of your committee to uphold the rule of law, fairness, equity, justice and regards to due process of the law, which are the hallmarks of democratic governance driven by internal party democracy.”