•Okpebholo
The winner of the Edo State All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship primary election, Senator Monday Okpebholo will receive the party’s Certificate of Return today, Saturday, February 24.
It was learnt that the presentation will be at a special meeting of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) slated for 2 pm at Muhammadu Buhari House, in Abuja, reports The Nation.
Governor Bassey Otu-led Edo State gubernatorial primary committee is equally expected to formally submit its full report on the exercise to the Abdullahi Umar Ganduje-led NWC today.
Okpebholo was declared the winner of the rescheduled shadow election yesterday, Friday, February 23, by Governor Otu.
With 12,433 votes, he defeated Hon. Dennis Idahosa, who was declared the winner of last weekend’s hotly disputed primary.
The Ovia Federal Constituency representative came a distant second in the fresh exercise with only 6,541 votes.
The APC standard bearer in the September 21 Edo State governorship election, a Senator representing Edo Central in the upper chamber of the National Assembly defeated nine aspirants in a keenly contested primary.
The shadow polls ran into a hitch on February 17 following the emergence of three candidates – Hon. Dennis Idahosa, Hon. Sunday Dekeri, and Sen. Okpebholo.
The development forced the party’s NWC to declare the election inconclusive and rescheduled the exercise for last Thursday to beat the INEC deadline for all parties for the conduct of primaries.
