The Chairman of the Edo State Economy and Strategy team, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, has won the governorship primary of the All Progressives
Congress.
He was declared winner of the keenly contested
primary by the Chairman of the Committee on the Conduct of the APC Primary and Governor of Katsina
State, Alhaji Aminu Bello Masari, at about 4:05am on
Sunday.
Obaseki and 11 other aspirants took part in the
exercise which commenced on Saturday at the
Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium in Benin, the state
capital.
The other aspirants include the Deputy Governor, Dr.Pius Odubu; a former governor, Professor
Oserhiemen Osunbor, and a former Minister of State for Works, Chris Ogiemwonyi.
Others are Maj-Gen Charles Airhiavbere (retd.),
Kenneth Imasuagbon, Peter Esele, Tina Agbarha,
Blessing Agbomere, Emmanuel Arigbe-Osula,
Professor Ebegue Amadasun and Austin Emuan.
At the end of voting, sorting and counting, Obaseki
polled a total of 1,618 votes to record a landslide win over the other contestants.
His closest rival was Odubu, who came a distant
second with 471 votes.
Imasuagbon and Ogiemwonyi had 247 and 137 to settle for third and fourth places, respectively.
Airhiavbere got 11 votes while Arigbe-Osula had 10
votes.
Other results are Esele (eight votes), Amadasun (eight votes), Emuan (seven votes) and Agbomere
(five votes).
The only female aspirant in the primary, Agbarha,
had a total of three votes.
The total number of invalid votes was 41.
There had been speculations that the economic chief was the preferred candidate of the State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole, following the endorsements he (Obaseki) received from APC lawmakers in the National Assembly and different political groups across the state.
The lawmakers, who endorsed his candidacy were
the Senator representing Edo North, Francis Alimikhena; Philip Shaibu (Etsako Federal
Constituency), Peter Akpatason (Akoko-Edo) and Pally Iriase (Owan).
Prior to voting, the Katsina governor said that out of
a total of 2,873 delegates, 2,582 were accredited for
the exercise.
He explained that voting would be done by thumb-
printing on the ballot paper bearing the images of the 12 aspirants, adding that the delegates were
expected to append their thumb prints on the paper
bearing the image of their preferred candidate.
He, however, urged the aspirants, their agents and
the delegates to see the primary as a family affair, as there would be no “loser”.
Masari had said, “The aspirants are 12 in number; out of the 12, one of them must emerge as the candidate. If he emerges, he will need the other 11 for him to face the general election.
“So, there is no loser in this contest. We consider all
of you that are participating as winners.”
