16th January, 2024
By Emmanuel Mogbede
Former Chairman of All Progressives Congress, APC, Adams Oshiomhole, has said the party is determined to reclaim Edo in the September 2024 governorship election.
Oshiomhole, a former governor of Edo State and the incumbent senator representing the Northern Senatorial District of the state said this while speaking on Tuesday in Abuja at the party’s national secretariat.
He noted that APC was the governing party in Edo before it lost the state to the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
“We are determined to reclaim Edo. I used the word reclaim because Edo is ours. We lost it due to several factors some of which were caused by some APC elements,” he said.
He said the party stakeholders had initiated dialogue among the 29 aspirants with a view to having a healthy competition.
According to Oshiomhole, though democracy based on popular participation might be more difficult but could not be faulted.
This, he said, was because it allowed for the building of consensus, conflict and resolution of the same with an understanding that the majority would have their way while the minority had their say.
He lauded Dr Abdullahi Ganduje, the APC National Chairman for his leadership role and prayed that his effort would lead to victory in Edo.
Speaking, Ganduje said his immediate target was to increase the number of governors and lawmakers on the party’s platform.
“To do that, we have to work throughout the year, traditionally, especially in developing countries political parties are very weak institutions. But we want to make APC a strong institution.
“Therefore, according to our programme, we are working throughout the year, not until when there are elections, and after elections the party becomes dead,” he said.
“We have to improve on our internal democracy, deepen and widen it,” the APC national chairman said.
He tasked party members on the need to understand the party manifesto, rules, regulations and philosophy.
“We need to move toward having a party ideology so that we will not be an ordinary political association whereby everybody can come in just to win the election,” he said.
He added that party members had to believe in its doctrine and work toward increasing its followership.
“So internal democracy is very important, we have to be transparent and at the same time, we have to also adopt a guided democracy where we can discuss issues so that we limit if possible the number of contests,’’ he said.
Meanwhile, the party said it plans to use direct primaries for the selection of its candidate for the Sept. 21 Edo governorship poll.
Mr Duro Meseko, the APC Deputy National Publicity Secretary, said this was part of resolutions at the end of the National Working Committee (NWC) consultative meeting with Edo stakeholders.
He urged the stakeholders to unite in trimming down the number of aspirants already in the race.
Meseko urged aspirants to play by the rules, advising them to explore internal party dispute resolution mechanisms, instead of dragging the party to court at the slightest opportunity.
“It was resolved that for the smooth running of the party, all members should ensure strict compliance with their financial obligations to the party in line with its Constitution.
“The NWC also resolved that for want of time, the e-registration for fresh members be conducted after the primaries in order not to derail its smooth conduct.
“The stakeholders were urged to promote unity within the ranks of the party to go into the election as one family bound by progressive ideals and fully geared to reclaim its mandate in Edo,” he said.