Posted by The statement by Imo State Governor Hope Uzodinma that Dennis Idahosa had won the Edo State governorship primary was deemed invalid by the All Progressives Congress (APC) Stakeholders Forum.
Uzodinma’s Election Committee declared Idahosa the victor of the primary and the party’s nominee for governor on Saturday. The gubernatorial election is set for September.
The group’s chairman, Hon. Emmanuel Godwin, insisted at a news conference on Sunday in Abuja that Uzodimma is powerless to assume the obligations of local government returning officers in the Edo State primary.
Therefore, the group called on President Bola Tinubu and Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje, the party’s national chairman, to honorably abandon Uzodimma’s infamous statement about Idahosa losing the primaries.
It further stated that Idahosa is incapable, incompetent, and untrustworthy to lead the APC to victory in the September 2024 Edo State gubernatorial election.
The statement read as follows: “In this case, we have been overrun with rumors that a certain candidate was declared yesterday by His Excellency, Hope Uzodinma, who also happens to be the chairman of the Edo State primary election commission.
While the returning officers were still compiling the results, Hope Uzodimma, who is not the returning officer in any capacity, took over and announced Denis Idahosa, which is regrettable.
As a result, we would like to declare unequivocally that the said announcement is false and should be ignored in its entirety. In the Edo state primaries, Governor Uzodimma is powerless to assume the roles and responsibilities of local government returning officials.
The attempt by His Excellency Hope, Hope Uzodima to defy the will of the Edo people by announcing fake results from the 18 local government areas in the absence of the collation officials who were formally dispatched to the various local governments was also strongly denounced by us.