Two Guber Candidates, Idahosa, Okpebholo Emerge in Edo APC Primary

There was confusion in Benin City, the Edo State capital, on Saturday, following the emergence of two candidates at the 2024 All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship primary election.

This followed a disruption of the voting exercise and violent attack by suspected political thugs.

The APC Governorship Primary Election Committee, led by Governor Hope Uzodinma, announced Hon. Dennis Idahosa as the winner of the direct primary election, having polled 40,453 votes to defeat other aspirants.

Uzodinma said Idahosa, having polled the highest number of votes cast by party delegates, was the winner of the Edo State APC governorship primary election.

He noted that earlier in the day, there was misinformation as to the venue of the primary election exercise, adding that the Protea Hotel venue was the right secretariat for the announcement of the results.

However, officials of the National Working Committee (NWC) appointed as returning officers for the exercise from the party’s headquarters in Abuja relocated from the initial venue where the announcement of results by Uzodinma was ongoing before they were violently attacked.

The NWC committee led by Dr Stanley Ugboajah declared another aspirant, Senator Monday Okpebholo, as the winner of the primary election and thereby announced him as the governorship candidate of the party in the forthcoming September 21, 2024 governorship election.