His Excellency, Seyi Makinde has written to the National Organizing Committee of the party, Bature notifying him of various reasons why the congress cannot hold due to irregularities observed by him.
Gov. Makinde made this disclosure in a letter to the National Organizing Secretary stating it would be unwise for the process for the Congresses to be compromise however stated some of the reasons why the congresses should not hold in the 192 Wards in Edo State.
According to him: ” List of Appointed Electoral Officers, I observed that the current list of Electoral Officers (EOS) contains people from Delta State and some Edo State Government officials. To buttress this point, the current Speaker of the Edo State House of Assembly is leading the team of EOS in his own Local Government Area – this isagainst the principles of equity, fairness and justice for all aspirants. As the NWC is aware, the use of EOS for the conduct of congresses was designed to ensure transparency and accountability and this will be impossible to achieve with the current list.
” Petitions from Aspirants: Hours after it was publicised that I had been appointed the Chairman, I received petitions from gubernatorial aspirants in the State alleging that the process will not be fair I have attached the petitions to this letter.
Our great party is known for conducting very transparent primaries including presidential primaries. This, in my opinion, should be the benchmark for the NWC’s conduct of elections and associated activities across the board”, he said.
Earlier, on the 3rd of February, 2024, some aspirants of the party, PDP who feel shortchanged by the list of the 3 Adhoc delegates Congress had petitioned Gov. Seyi Makinde of how the list of the delegates have been skewed in favour of the Governorof Edo state, Godwin Obaseki ianointed candidate, Barr Asue Ighodalo.
The petition which was signed by H. E. Rt Hon Philip Shaibu, Anselm Ojezua Esq, Hon. Omosede Igbinedion Barr.
Ogbeide Ihama, Hajia Hadizat Umoru
Dr. Earl Osaro Onaiwu urged the governor to disregard the Committee which has been tainted by sundry infractions as against the provisions in the party’s constitution.
The letter which was titled: Edo State Governorship Primary: Adultrated List Of Electoral And Monitoring Officers”, advised the governor with the following reasons according to them with fundamental flaws that have the potential to compromise the process even before the Congresses commence saying they speak of the lists of officers deployed to the Wards and Local Government Areas to conduct the Exercise Statewide.
The aspirants stated: ” On the 30th of January 2024, we wrote a letter to the acting National Chairman in which we drew attention to several anomalies contained in the list earlier published by the National Organising Secretary for the exercise. The letter was followed by a very cordial and fruitful meeting with the National Chairman and some other members of the National Working Committee of the Party.
” We were therefore shocked to find that there are three lists published and in circulation as officials to conduct the congresses. One of them appears to be authentic and in accordance with the agreed decision with the NWC while the other two are very suspect; one of them in particular is fraught with names of members of the Party in Edo State who are Government officials ranging from Special Assistants, Senior Special Assistants, Local Government Council officers and the like.
” For instance, Barr Idemudia llueminosen who is the Special Adviser to Esan Central Local Government Council, Sylvester Okoh is a Senior Special Assistant to the Governor of Edo State, Rev Felix Obhakhan is a member of Edo State Audit Commission, Hon Franklin Osawe is Vice Chairman, Egor Local Government Council and Ikponmwo
