IDAHOSA BRINGS EDO APC PRIMARY CASE AGAINST OKPEBHOLO AND INEC IN COURT

Babatunji Wusu –

Dennis Idahosa, a candidate in the Edo State governorship primary for the All Progressives Congress (APC), has taken the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to court in the Federal High Court of Abuja.

Remember that there is an internal issue inside the APC in Edo State?

The initial primary on February 17 produced three winners, including Idahosa, which sparked the problem.

Monday Okpebholo was victorious in a rerun primary on February 22, garnering 12,433 votes, surpassing Idahosa’s total of 6,541 votes.

Idahosa claimed to have won the primary election and asked the electoral umpire to accept his name alone as the party’s candidate in a letter to INEC Chairman Mahmood Yakubu, through his attorney Wole Olanipekun (SAN).

Olanipekun requested that INEC recognize his client as the Edo APC governorship candidate in a letter dated March 4, 2024, which made reference to a litigation designated FHC/ABJ/CS/274/2024 between Idahosa and Okpebholo.

The APC and INEC were added to the list of defendants in the lawsuit.

Idahosa insisted that there was no justification for the supplementary or rerun election, which Okpebholo won, and that he had won the exercise held on February 17, 2024, which was observed by the INEC and pronounced the winner.

The federal member claimed that since the poll on February 22 constituted an extension of the exercise on February 17, the results of that earlier exercise could not be discarded.