Edo 2024: Idahosa Declares Himself APC Candidate in Letter to INEC

An aspirant in the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship primary election in Edo State, Hon. Dennis Idahosa, has written to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman, Professor Mahmud Yakubu, claiming that he is the rightful candidate for the party.

In the letter dated March 4th 2024, Idahosa’s legal representative, Wole Olanipekun (SAN), argued that Idahosa won the February 17th 2024 primary election, which was monitored by INEC.

He also mentioned that there was no reason given for the supplementary election ordered by the party leadership and that the results of the February 17th exercise should not be disregarded.

According to the suit filed by Idahosa, he garnered 40,453 votes in the February 17th primary election, as confirmed by the APC primary election committee and an INEC report.

However, the APC subsequently informed INEC that the election was inconclusive and scheduled a completion exercise on February 22nd.

In the completion exercise, Sen. Monday Okpebholo was declared the winner with 12,433 votes, while Idahosa was allocated 6,541 votes.

Idahosa’s legal team argued that the primary election of February 17th was not inconclusive and that there was no basis for the completion exercise.

The letter also referred to the precedents set by INEC in the 2016 governorship election in Kogi State and the 2018 governorship election in Osun State, where supplementary elections were held and the winners were declared upon a summation of the votes from both the main and supplementary elections.

As the legal battle for the APC governorship candidacy in Edo State continues, it remains to be seen how the situation will unfold.