Edo gov’ship: Okpebholo receives APC certificate of return

Lukman urges Ganduje to unite aggrieved stakeholders

Candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the September 21 governorship election in Edo State, Senator Monday Okpebholo, has received his certificate of return. Presenting the certificate to the candidate on Saturday in Abuja, the APC National Chairman, Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, said the party is on its way to winning the election, describing Okpebholo as a sellable candidate.

Ganduje said, “I am happy to tell you that as we directed, as we monitored, the direct primaries took place in 192 wards. We have the record; the results were collated in each local government and the results are with us. The results were announced after collation. As a result, Senator Okpebholo scored the highest votes and therefore declared the winner.”

In his acceptance speech, Senator Okpebholo said his ambition to become the next Edo State governor has no respect for tribal, ethnic or religious inclinations.

“I shall leverage on the collective strength of all of us and the passion for a greater Edo. I am humbly requesting all my brothers and sisters who contested the primaries with me, to put the contest behind and join me in the challenging task of making Edo State heart beat again with development across the broad spectrum of human endeavour.”

Meanwhile, a former member of the National Working Committee (NWC), Salihu Mohammed Lukman, has asked the top echelon of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to learn from the mistakes that led to the party’s defeat at the Edo State governorship election in 2020.

Lukman, a former National Vice Chairman (North-West) and erstwhile Director General of the Progressive Governors Forum (PGF) in a statement yesterday specifically asked the Abdullahi Umar Ganduje-led NWC to unite aggrieved aspirants who lost last Thursday’s APC primary election that produced Senator Monday Okpebholo as the party’s candidate for the September 21 governorship election in the state.

He said party leaders should equally meet with a former governor of the state, Adams Oshiomhole, whose candidate, Dennis Idahosa, lost at the primary poll, to ensure that everyone was carried along in the scheme of things to get victory.