Ex-Minister supports APC’s decision to limit Edo gov candidates to six

According to Clem Agba, a candidate for governor of Edo State on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, the APC pruning committee was led by former governor Adams Oshiomhole, who announced that 29 candidates had been reduced to six.

The state governorship election is scheduled for September 21, 2024, according to the Independent National Electoral Commission.

The APC set February 17, 2024, as the date of the primary in which its candidate would be chosen.

To guarantee a primary election free of violence, the APC established a committee as an internal mechanism to screen and reduce the number of candidates to a manageable number.

In light of this, the committee reduced the field of candidates from 29 to 10, and then to six, with two candidates from each of the three senatorial districts.

They are Monday Okpebholo (Esan Central LGA), Dennis Idahosa (Ovia South West LGA), David Imuse (Esan West LGA), Lucky Imasuen (Ovia North East LGA), and Ernest Umakhihe (Owan East LGA).

Anamero Dekeri, an Edo State candidate, reacted by calling the APC Pruning Committee’s report unworthy on Monday.

Nonetheless, Agba, a former state minister for budget and national planning, claimed that the report’s centerpiece was read to each candidate during a Monday appearance on Politics Today on Channels TV.

Agba revealed that the 29 candidates decided to reduce the number in order to reduce resource waste.

He said, “The candidates were invited to a meeting by the state party leadership on January 13 and they stated that the 29th was cumbersome and would be a waste of money. They believed that there was a need to prune down in part because of this.

Adams Oshiomhole, the APC leader in Edo State, presided over the meeting in Abuja. There were the 29 candidates and the official APC stakeholders. Let’s reduce the number because there will only be one candidate in the end, and we must continue to be a single family, was the problem.

“And we asked the candidates, ‘Do you think we should do this?’” Furthermore, nobody disagreed with the proposal that was put forth. Yes, that is what we agreed upon. We were twenty-six at the meeting. It eventually rose to 29.

It was stated that there would be no zoning when we first arrived in Edo and then moved on to Abuja. The state secretary actually made that announcement. You will discover that candidates ran from each of the three senatorial districts based on that.

“Zoning will not be implemented, so it was not one of the criteria to be used for pruning, as was also emphasized at the meeting on the 13th. The APC National Working Committee further reaffirmed that there would be no zoning and that there would be a pruning to a manageable number when we met with them again.

“I believe that exercise was completed on the 15th and 16th. Tuesday, the 16th, and Monday, the 15th. After my interview on Tuesday, everyone was invited to the National Assembly, which was held in one of the halls. As the committee had already submitted the report to the APC leadership, that is where the state party leader gave us access to the committee’s report. They had carefully examined it, made inquiries, and then at that meeting, they had given us that report.

We were informed that the number of candidates had been reduced to six. In other words, two senatorial districts. No other meeting has been called since then. We recently learned that the field has been reduced to six candidates. The meeting’s chairman read through the highlights without providing us with a written report, but he did comment that the six names were not listed in order of performance.

Agba stated that the number of candidates was never reduced to four, despite the APC leadership stating that the committee’s report is advisory.

“We had a meeting and they said we would like to do pruning,” the speaker said. Do you concur? Yes, we replied. We also completed an exercise. After distributing the terms of reference to each of us, they returned to present the outcome. Do you not think that the six who made it should be invited again if there was going to be any more pruning?

“I’m not familiar with the specifics of the report, but the process was fair. Thus, I’m not sure what was written in the report to judge its fairness.