Ahead of the off-season governorship election scheduled for September 21, 2024, in Edo state, controversies have trailed the primary elections conducted by the top three political parties in the state. The Labour Party (LP), the All Progressive Congress (APC), and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have all experienced intense power struggles during their respective candidate selection processes. This piece explores the controversies and possible impacts on the electoral process in the state.
Division Over Choice of Candidate in the PDP
In 2020, the PDP became the ruling party in Edo State following the development that saw the incumbent governor, Godwin Obaseki, alongside his deputy, Philip Shaibu, defecting to the party from the APC, the platform through which he was elected into office. In the 2024 Edo governorship election build-up, the rift between Obaseki and Shaibu, came to the fore as the latter declared his intention to contest for the governorship poll despite reported opposition from his boss. This highlighted underlying concerns within the party, with allegations bordering on power tussles and personal ambitions marring the primary election process.
In February 2024, the PDP held congresses at the ward levels to select delegates for the primary election. The delegate congresses were held across 17 of 18 LGAs in the state, excluding Estako Central where nine of the party’s electoral officers were reportedly abducted on their way to conduct the Ward congress. Ahead of the congresses, the party appointed Seyi Makinde, governor of Oyo state, as the chairman of the Ward Congress Electoral Committee. He, however, declined the appointment citing late notification and prior commitments in his state. This was amid a petition by nine governorship aspirants wherein they alleged compromise in the list of electoral officers. The aftermath of the ward delegate election was a demand by the party’s state chapter for the results to be cancelled over alleged irregularities. However, Obaseki and Peter Mbah, governor of Enugu state and chairman of the Ward Congress Electoral Committee, expressed satisfaction with the outcome of the congresses.
At the primary election conducted by the party on February 22, Dauda Lawal, governor of Zamfara state and chairman of Edo PDP Primary Electoral Committee, declared Asue Ighodalo as the winner of the election with 577 votes. Philip Shaibu, one of the 10 contestants, was declared the winner of a parallel primary in which he polled 300 votes. The PDP leadership upheld Ighodalo’s victory as he was issued a certificate of return at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja. This prompted Shaibu to storm the party’s secretariat demanding a certificate of return as he threatened to take legal actions against the party. Following the developments, the Edo State House of Assembly impeached Shaibu as the state’s deputy governor; subsequently the security post of his residence in Benin City was demolished by the state government. While the impeachment was tied to misconduct, perjury and disclosure of government secrets, Shaibu claimed it was because of his desire to contest the 2024 governorship election in the state. The internal division within the party fueled by allegations of perceived irregularities in the primary election processes could affect the party’s prospects in the forthcoming governorship polls in the State.
Power Struggles Over Choice of Candidate in the APC
The APC, once a dominant force in Edo politics, is grappling with its own set of political disagreements. The party’s attempt to streamline governorship aspirants through the Prof Julius Ihonvbere-led Committee was resisted by some aspirants. While some of them expressed concerns over alleged plans to impose a candidate on the party, a chieftain and leader of the party in the state, Adams Oshiomhole, was accused of orchestrating the plans to coerce the national chairman into appointing Imo State governor, Hope Uzodinma, as the chairman of the Edo State Primary Election Committee. The allegations of vote manipulation and external interference raised, caused tensions among party members.
On February 10, the party screened and cleared 12 aspirants for the primary election. Just before the exercise, some of the aspirants including Osagie Ize-Iyam, Lucky Imasuen, and Earnest Afolabi, announced their withdrawal from the race The primary election was held in Benin, the Edo state capital, on Saturday, February 17, where a member of the Federal House of Representatives, Dennis Idahosa, clinched the governorship ticket after Hope Uzodinma declared him the winner of the election with 40,483 votes. Uzodinma’s declaration became controversial after the returning officers in the various LGAs in the state announced Sunday Dekeri as the winner with 25,384 votes. Similarly, another aspirant, Monday Okpebholo, senator representing Edo Central, claimed to have won the election with over 6,000 votes. The primary conducted by Uzodinma was also marred by violence, with journalists being the targets of attacks by political thugs who besieged the collation process in Benin.
The development compelled the party’s leadership to fix another date, February 22, for a rerun election as the National Working Committee declared the process inconclusive. At the freshly conducted primary election, the chairman of the Revised APC Edo Gubernatorial Election Committee, Bassey Otu, who is the governor of Cross River State, declared Monday Okpebholo as the winner of the party’s primary election after clinching 12,433 of the total 31,863 votes cast. Amid the controversies that marred the party’s primary election process, the allegations of irregularities cast a shadow of doubt over the party’s internal democracy and many have questioned the party’s potential to field a united front come September 21.
Factional Disputes Over Choice of Candidate in LP
The LP was also not immune to controversies in its primary election process even as it is a less influential player in the political process, when compared to the PDP and APC. The high cost of LP nomination forms raised eyebrows among aspirants, leading to calls for a reduction in prices to promote the inclusion of women and people living with disabilities. The party however dismissed the aspirants’ plea and recommendations, noting that anyone who could not afford the nomination form was not fit to contest the governorship primaries. Factional disputes within the party further complicated matters, resulting in multiple candidates claiming victory.
In December 2023, two persons were reportedly arrested over alleged plans to conduct a primary election for the party. The publicity secretary of the party in the state, Samson Uroupa, noted that the suspects, alleged to be members of the Lamidi Apapa’s faction, wanted to create trouble in the state, asking the security agents to arrest anybody claiming loyalty to a faction outside the Julius Abure-led LP.
Before LP’s primary initially scheduled for February 22 and then shifted to 23, Olumide Apata, former president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and an aspirant for the Edo governorship election, had written a letter to INEC to express concerns over the lack of transparency and accountability. He claimed that some aspirants had withdrawn from the race due to alleged plans by the party leadership to impose a candidate. The party however described the allegation as unfounded, noting that the party did not officially recognise the individuals who withdrew from the race as they didn’t purchase the expression of interest and nomination forms. The Edo LP publicity secretary claimed that some individuals utilised the party’s online influence to solicit funds from the party’s supporters worldwide.
Three different candidates emerged from the party’s parallel primaries. The Abure-led faction of the party declared Olumide Akpata as the winner of the primary election held on February 23 with 416 votes. The Apapa-led faction declared Hilton Idahoda as the winner of the parallel primary held on February 24 with 917 votes. Meanwhile, in a letter addressed to INEC, purportedly signed by Apapa, Anderson Uwadiae Asemote was named the party’s governorship candidate.
Room for Election Disinformation
Following the conclusion of primaries by all the political parties, the electoral umpire on April 22, published the final list of candidates that will be contesting the 2024 Edo election. According to the list, Ighodalo Asuerinme, Okpebholo Monday and Olumide Akpata are the recognised governorship candidates of the PDP, APC and LP respectively.
The rifts within the top three political parties in the 2024 Edo governorship race raise concerns regarding the occurrence of election disinformation. This is because the controversies may lead to misleading, unfounded and falsified claims which may affect electorates’ perception of the credibility of the election process and their acceptance of the outcome. The risk of extreme information disorder suggests the need for a whole of stakeholder approach to preventing, countering and mitigating the spread of disinformation, before, during and after the September 21, Edo state governorship election.
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