By DADA AYOKHAI
Barrister Asue Ighodalo won the Edo PDP Governorship Primary election held on Thursday, February 22, at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, Benin
Ighodalo, a former chairman of the board of the Nigeria Brewery Plc, the beer conglomerate, polled a staggering five hundred and seventy-seven votes (577), out of the the available five hundred and eighty-five delegate votes, to defeat his rivals .
Early in the afternoon when the polling ended and the sorting of the ballot boxes commenced in earnest, delegates gathered in groups to exchange in banters while they anxiously awaited the results of the primary election.
Senator James Manager, the PDP State Congress Electoral Officer and his team worked round the clock as they sorted, collated and tabulated the figures coming out of the numerous ballot boxes on display.
At 1700 hours, the Chief Returning Officer for the Edo Guber Primary Election and governor of Zamfara State, Alhaji Dauda Lawal, took the podium and declared candidate Asue Ighodalo as the winner of the primary election.
The victory of Asue Ighodalo did not come as a surprise to most of the delegates at the primary which was monitored by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as well as members of the PDP National Working Committee (NWC)
The Edo PDP guber primary election was described by many as a classical example of orderliness and transparency. With the open secret ballot used by the party, it was a seamless process as each of the 18 local government delegates as well as the national delegates took their turns to vote for their preferred candidate in an alphabetical order .
Even the party NWC members as well as the governor of Zamfara State hailed the process .
Governor Lawal equally provided a breakdown of the votes. For instance, there were six voided votes.
From the initial list of ten aspirants for the coveted position, two of them, Rt. Hon. Ogbeide Ihama and Ms. Omosede Igbinedion Esq voluntarily withdrew from the race.
The duo of Hajia Hadiza Umoru and Rt. Hon. Philip Shaibu, both of them from the Edo North district, were unavoidably absent
News later filtered in that Hon. Philip Shuaib, the deputy governor of the state has been on the warpath with the governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, held a parallel primary in his Benin residence where he was the sole contestant.
Ironically, the deputy governor gathered a single vote in his favour at the primary held at the Ogbemudia Stadium.
In his acceptance speech, with an aplomb Asue Ighodalo was full of joy and gratitude to the party members for the trust reposed in him and vowed to excel beyond expectations, saying he intends to use the good works of Gov. Obaseki as the launch pad to offer better quality services to Edo people if elected
