Obviously, the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium was
the natural choice of venue for the governorship
primaries of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
In choosing the stadium, the party kept faith with
tradition as the place had played host to such
activities in the past. Members of the ruling All
Progressives Congress (APC) had completed
their governorship primaries inside the football
pitch only 24 hours earlier. With about three
courts collapsed into a stage to accommodate
about 750 delegates and other stakeholders, the
venue proved to be a smart choice.
The Congress started with accreditation of
delegates, a task that was decentralized to save
time. The process, which was supervised by
officials of the Independent Electoral Commission
(INEC) was done at three centres in Benin,
namely Emporium Hall for Edo North delegates,
Edo State secretariat of the PDP for Edo Central
delegates and Okada House for Edo South
delegates.
As early as 9:00 a.m, the process had started
and by 12 noon the delegates had started
trooping to the stadium. Ebonyi State governor,
Mr. Dave Umahi, who was the chairman of the
election committee, raised the curtains with his
remarks.
The governor of Delta State, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa,
who was also present, gave a brief
remark. Umahi commended the conduct of the
accreditation exercise, informing everyone
present that the only mandate given to his
committee was to conduct a free and fair
primary election.
Okowa in his goodwill message assured that he
would always be with the Edo PDP at all times,
urging them not to capitulate in the face of
intimidation by the ruling party. Unlike in the
past, the exercise was done in two hours to the
admiration of the attendees. Voting commenced
at 1:45 p.m while sorting of votes ended at
about 3:45 pm. Results were declared
immediately. A former governorship candidate in
Lagos State Mr. Jimi Agbaje at the end
announced Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu as the
winner.
He garnered 584 votes, representing about 82
percent of valid votes, defeating Mr. Matthew
Uduoriyekemwen, who scored 91 votes and Chief
Solomon Edebiri, who polled 38 votes. Though
the show was a day for Ize-Iyamu, Edo State
chairman of the PDP, Mr. Dan Orbih, was
generally commended for the peace in Edo
PDP. Speaking in that regard, Gombe State
governor, Alhaji Ibrahim Dankwambo said: “I
congratulate the very good people of Edo State
for this wonderful exercise, I have never seen an
election so transparent.
There was no invalid vote in this exercise, and I
hereby call on our party men and women to
support whoever is declared the winner of the
primaries.” On his part, Okowa said: “I thank
God that I witnessed this primary today, and we
promised our brothers in the race that we are
going to conduct a free and fair primary, and I
believe that is what we have done today. For our
people and me in Delta State, we promise our
support; we promise our prayers. We will be on
your campaign grounds, and I want to
congratulate you ahead of time because I know
that with what we see today, the oneness in us,
we will win the election.”
Umahi commended Orbih, the governorship
aspirants, their agents and for the successful
conduct of the primaries. He added that in every
process of the primaries, they were all carried
along just as he thanked the governors of
Gombe, Delta and Rivers states for their support
during the exercise. He pleaded with the
aspirants and their supporters to work with
whoever emerged as the winner.
In his acceptance speech, Ize-Iyamu commended
the leaders and other party members for lifting
the PDP up at a very critical time. He noted that
the PDP under Orbih was able to expose the
alleged corrupt practices of the state
government. Also, Ize-Iyamu noted that the state
chapter of the PDP is deepening democracy,
adding that Orbih never went out to campaign
with any of the aspirants.
How Ize-Iyamu won
For those, who had keenly observed the
gubernatorial race in the PDP, Ize-Iyamu’s
victory did not come as a surprise. When the
former South-south Vice-Chairman of the now
defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN)
defected in 2014 from the PDP, there was a
political tremor in Edo State. The reason was
that four lawmakers of the ruling APC defected
with him, thereby increasing the number of PDP
lawmakers in the House of Assembly from five to
nine.
The APC had alleged that the PDP lawmakers
wanted to impeach Oshiomhole and an impasse
between the APC and PDP lawmakers followed.
With the array and calibre of politicians backing
Ize-Iyamu, many argued that he actually got the
ticket before the primaries. Drawn from the three
senatorial districts, his supporters included but
were not limited to the following; Chief Gabriel
Igbinedion, Senator Yisa Braimah, Chief Raymond
Dokpesi, former Governor Lucky Igbinedion and
Prince Tony Omoaghe. Ize-Iyamu’s preparation
for the exercise also outshined others.
He is reputed as the only politician in the state
with a house dedicated to politicking. The
building otherwise called Ize-Iyamu Campaign
Office had long existed years before the race to
occupy Edo State Government House
started. That was why many believed that Ize-
Iyamu was already looking ahead of the
primaries to the general election even before the
primary.
Even more, many PDP chieftains had over time
convinced themselves of the fact that if they
must takeover the government from the APC
that Ize-Iyamu was the most credible and
entrenched person to lead the onslaught and
hence it was not difficult that many party
chieftains supported him.
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