By DADA AYOKHAI
The Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Edo State, Jarrett Tenebe, has openly criticized the poor treatment meted out to delegates from the state during the party’s national convention held in Abuja on Saturday.
Edo APC chairman , Jarrett Tenebe criticised the party’s national convention in Abuja on Saturday, saying state delegates were poorly treated and given low-status positions despite Edo’s political weight—an outcome he called disappointing and disrespectful to the state’s contributions.
Tenebe, speaking with evident frustration at the convention venue, lamented that despite Edo State’s political importance and contributions to the ruling party, its delegates were relegated to what he described as an undeserved position.
According to him, the development was not only disappointing but also a slight on the state’s efforts in helping the APC consolidate power.
He stressed that Edo, now controlled by the APC, should have been accorded priority placement at the convention, especially given the hard work put in by party members in the state to wrest power from the opposition.
“We’re not supposed to be put here because normally we’re always at the entrance of the convention,” Tenebe said.
“Since yesterday, I’ve been protesting that they kept us here because we’re a state that has a governor. Not that we spoke to our governor to cross to APC.”
The Edo APC chairman further explained that party members in the state did not rely on political defections but rather engaged as genuine grassroots mobilisation to secure victory for the party.
“We worked hard to make a governor for the state,” he added.
“And we expected that when you are considering positioning states, we’re supposed to be one of the first states to be positioned because we worked hard to flip the Edo State to APC.”
Tenebe also referenced the state’s ambitious electoral promise to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, noting that such a commitment should have earned Edo a more prominent placement at the convention.
“And we are also convinced that as a state that has promised Mr President 3.5 million votes, to be kept in a place like this is not right,” he said.
“But what do we do?”
Tenebe remarks highlight growing internal discontent within the ruling party, particularly among state chapters that feel sidelined despite their contributions to the APC’s electoral successes.
