A lacklustre primary conducted by the Modu Sheriff faction of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Wednesday, produced Mr. Mathew Iduoriyekemen, as the candidate for the September 10 governorship election in Edo State.
This is also as the Vice Chairman, South-South chapter of the party, Elder Emma Ogidi, ruled out the validity of any other primary conducted by the party aside the one which produced Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, insisting it was ‘constitutional and did not breach any rule.’
It was observed that the ballot papers and boxes used for the event were plain and devoid of the prominent Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) insignia as obtained in the ones used by the Ahmed Makarfi-led PDP faction.
The venue was however, the same as one of the ones used by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) for its primary, as the delegates were asked to write down the name of the aspirant of their choice on the blank paper.
In addition, the accreditation of delegates for the poll took place at the campaign office of an aspirant, Mr Mathew Iduoriyekemen with delegates who reportedly came from the 18 local government areas of the state in buses many of which had Kogi, Bauchi, Imo and Delta state vehicle plate numbers.
Many had initially headed for the Ogbe stadium for the exercise but met the place under lock with armed security personnel on guard, a development sources say forced the factional acting chairman of the PDP in the state and former chairman of the PDP in Ondo state, Mr. Ebenezer Alabi, to seek audience with the state governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, who ordered the re-opening of the stadium for the exercise.
Alabi had earlier rationalized the event saying that, “Today we are faced with the problem of who is the authentic person that can sign a valid nomination to INEC, presently the court ceded that power to Ali Modu Sheriff”.
“So if we want to have a valid candidate for the election in Edo state, we must do something proper … And that is why we are here to comply with the order of the law and ensure that we have a proper candidate for our party in the forthcoming governorship election in Edo state”.
The factional primary which had Mr Mathew Iduoriyekemhen, a former member of Edo Assembly, who had earlier vied with Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu and Chief Solomon Edebiri and Mr E.J. Agbonayinma, a member of the House of Representatives as contestants did not start until 3: 45 pm at the Tennis court of the stadium.
Incidentally, Agbonayinma who was Iduoriyekemhen’s agent in the last primaries which was held at the same location and won by Ize-Iyamu is from the same local government, Ikpoba-okha in Edo south district of the state.
Before both aspirants explained their reason for seeking to fly the party flag on September 10, 2016, the deputy national chairman of the Sheriff faction Dr Cairo Ojuogboh pleaded with leaders of the party to intervene and allow Sheriff to put the party back on track at the National level.
He said, “the problem of the party stems from a desire of some leaders of the party to handpick a presidential candidate for 2019 even when Sheriff has said repeatedly that he has no intention of running for the high office in 2019”.
The head of the electoral panel Alhaji Ahmed Gulak said , “what we are doing here today will result in the PDP taking over the seat of the Edo state government in September, ” adding that , “the crisis in the PDP is about the rule of law”.
The high point of the event was the decision of Agbonayinma to drop his aspiration and declare his support for Iduoriyekemhen adding that he shares the vision of the aspirant which tallies with his interest in politics at inception”.
Thereafter the delegates numbering 677 in all and in alphabetical order including the 7 members of the factional state Edo led by Alabi, 3 ad hoc delegates from the 192 wards in the state, making 576, the 5 members of excitement from the 18 LGAs1 member of the National Assembly were given ballot papers to vote.
Meanwhile, Vice Chairman, South-South chapter of the party, Elder Emma Ogidi, has ruled out the validity of any other primary conducted by the party, as according to him, delegates had already elected Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, as the authentic candidate at an earlier primary in the state.
According to him, even Iduoriyekemhen participated in that exercise.
“In Benin, we had three ad-hoc delegates elections and after that was concluded, each of the wards elected their executives and from there to local government and state congresses that produced the state executives.
“In addition, we had the statutory delegates – Board of Trustees (BoT) members, former national officers among others. The names of all the delegates were listed and the three aspirants were invited to a meeting and they were shown the list and all documents related to the primary.
“They examined, agreed and endorsed their signatures on all the documents. Even the voters cards used for the primary were endorsed by the three aspirants as well as by the state chairman and secretary of the party,” he stated.
“During the primary, the three aspirants addressed the delegates and each of them pledged to work with anyone that emerged winner.
“So what is this allegation that the process has been designed to favour one person when you were fully involved in all the processes?
“Many of us do not understand that this politics is not a do-or-die thing. President Goodluck Jonathan was the first person to concede defeat and that is why till tomorrow the All Progressives Congress (APC) cannot understand it,” he added.
Ogidi who was a former state chairman of the PDP in Delta State further faulted Sheriff’s claim that he loved PDP insisting that anyone who loved the party would not rock the party’s boat.
“Chief Alex Ekwueme lost in Jos in 1998, he did not kill the party; he was BoT Chairman and was removed and he did not kill anybody. Prince Vincent Ogbulafor was removed as PDP National Secretary, he came back to become Chairman; Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo was removed as Secretary, he came back to become Chairman. So what are we talking about, if you love the party just work for it and keep quiet.”
He said he was convinced that Sheriff was an agent planted to destroy the PDP but noted that the former chairman might not be blamed because he was not with them from inception.
“Sheriff came in only recently and he came from a very small party where he called the shots. But now the PDP is so big that the exit of one would not affect the party.
“Whereas in APC, if President Muhammadu Buhari exits today the North will leave the party, if Asiwaju Bola Tinubu exits today, the South West will leave APC. But let anybody exit PDP, PDP will remain the way it is, it’s just there, deep rooted,” Ogidi said.
