APC to constitute panel over defeat in Edo as Ganduje, Buni meet Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday held a “private meeting” with the Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) Caretaker/Extraordinary National Convention Planning Committee, Mai Mala Buni, who is also the Governor of Yobe State.

The meeting, held behind closed doors at the State House, Abuja, was attended by the Chairman of APC Edo State Governorship Election National Campaign Committee, Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State.

Although the attendees did not disclose details of the meeting, Daily Trust learnt that the deliberation focused on the just concluded election in Edo State which the party’s candidate Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu lost to the incumbent Governor Godwin Obaseki.

Buni and Ganduje left the Presidential Villa through a path that made it impossible for them to be interviewed by State House reporters.

Meanwhile, the party said it would constitute a panel to unravel factors that led to its defeat in last Saturday’s governorship election in the state.

A member of the APC caretaker committee representing the youths, Barr Ismail Ahmed, disclosed this yesterday while briefing newsmen after a meeting with Progressive bloggers and social media influencers at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja.

He said the October 10, 2020 governorship election in Ondo State was also dicey and required serious attention to be given by all party members.

“The party has not officially done a postmortem which we intend to do this week. The National Assembly is very busy, we are going to call a postmortem to know how far and how we find ourselves in this kind of situation,” he said.

Why APC lost – chieftain

Former Edo State Publicity Secretary of the APC, Godwin Erhahon, said the party lost the election because the Binis were tired of Adams Oshiomhole’s dictatorship and “resolved to bury him politically”.

Erhahon, in a statement, said: “Majority of those who attempted to resist Comrade Adams Oshiomhole’s imposition of the governor on the party in 2016 felt it would be foolish of them to allow the same Oshiomhole to use them to remove Obaseki who he first hailed as a superman.”

US, UK visa ban threat, very effective - Kwankwaso

Meanwhile, a former governor of Kano State, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, has said the threat by the United States and United Kingdom to slam visa ban on election riggers was very effective.

“Your advisory to election riggers and promoters of election violence to know that there are consequences, beyond the borders of Nigeria, for their ignominious action was very effective. We thank you for your interest in deepening democracy in our country,” he said.

My victory caged ‘lions’ from Edo politics – Obaseki

Edo State Governor Godwin Obaseki has said his victory at last Saturday’s governorship election has caged the ‘lions and tigers’ permanently from the state politics.

“You have helped me cage the lions and tigers in the state; you will never see them again in Edo because they are all in the zoo now where they belong,” Obaseki told a crowd of PDP supporters during a victory parade at the popular Kings Square and other adjourning streets in Benin.