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Lamidi Apapa’s faction sends Asemota’s name to INEC
According to him, there was no primary election conducted on Friday February 22, as purported in the said letter from Apapa to INEC. He said that the election in which he emerged as a candidate was conducted by the Labour Party state officials at the secretariat of the party on First East Circular Road, Benin City.
The last is yet to be seen in the unfolding drama in the Edo State Labour Party, LP, as the Alhaji Lamidi Apapa-led faction is embroiled in a crisis as two candidates have emerged as its governorship candidate for the Edo State Governorship election scheduled for September 21, 2024.
This is as the Abure-led faction of the party on Friday, February 23, 2024, declared Olumide Apata as it governorship candidate following the primaries in Benin City, the Edo State capital.
In a parallel election held in Benin on Saturday, Dr Hilton Idahosa emerged as the winner with 917 votes. His closet rival scored 17 votes while the third contender garnered 12 votes.
However, it has emerged that Apapa, who was not present during the primary election wrote a secret letter to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, dated Thursday February 22, 2024, in which he submitted the names of Messrs. Anderson Asemota and Monday Mawah as governorship and deputy governorship candidates respectively of the party.
The letter signed by Apapa, as Acting National Chairman, and Alhaji Saleh Lawan, as Acting National Secretary, read in part: ‘‘We write to submit the names of our candidates that emerged from our governorship primary election conducted today (February 22, 2024) in Benin, Edo State.
‘‘You will recall that we had earlier notified the Commission about the conduct of our party governorship primary today and we hereby forward the names of our party flag bearer for the September 21, 2024 governorship election.’’
Reacting to this development, Idahosa, who is a United Kingdom-based lawyer, described the purported letter from Apapa as fake. He explained that the primary election which was earlier slated for Thursday, February 21, 2024, was shifted to Saturday February 24, to allow for exigencies.
According to him, there was no primary election conducted on Friday February 22, as purported in the said letter from Apapa to INEC. He said that the election in which he emerged as a candidate was conducted by the Labour Party state officials at the secretariat of the party on First East Circular Road, Benin City.
