National Chairman of All Progreassives Congress (APC) John Odigie-Oyegun has said that coming governorship elwction in Edo state is a must win for his party.
He has however, set up a 5-man fact-finding and reconciliatory committee to resolve all matters bedevilling the state chapter of the party ahead of the primaries slated for June and the eventual gubernatorial election later in the year.
The National Chairman who expressed worries over the unfortunately deteriorating turn of events in the state, charged members of the committee to restore Normalcy and reconcile aggrieved members so as to ensure victory for the party at the polls.
He said this while inaugurating the committee at the national secretariat in Abuja, on Monday.
Oyegun said: “It is a matter for concern and has been at all levels of party and government. That a state we hold so dear to our heart. A state where there has been a lot of breakthroughs in terms of development that the state has not witnessed for a long time. A state under an APC Governor who has done so much to uplift virtually every part of Edo State that suffered neglect over a long period of PDP administration that just a matter of months to an election and weeks to primaries should be engulfed so to speak in the kind. Of unfortunate intra-party dispute at virtually all levels, party level, government level and now the state Assembly level.
“You have been very specially chosen because of the extremely high level of integrity, support of the vision of the party to go to Edo state, to try to restore in a very short.. In a few words, to try to restore normalcy within the fold of the APC in that state.
The National Chairman who however said that there is nothing wrong if stakeholders have a preferred candidate, he urged the committee members to propagate the message of neutrality, fair play and free and fair primaries to all participants.
“There is nothing wrong so to speak, individuals within the state, influentially individuals even from the Governor to state a preference in terms of the aspirants. If we cannot, I cannot and National Headquarters cannot except a situation where the party itself, is seems to be discriminating between the aspirants that cannot be accepted we are a party of change and we must emphasized that in every thing that we do the example was set with our presidential primaries and that is one of the major caterpault that has placed us where we are today and we are not going to go back on the need, the necessity, for free and fair primaries, which means that the party itself must be as neutral as possible because all aspirants are there children. So this is the message I want you to go with and to everything that you can to arbitrate in the various vicious state.”
The committee has Senator Osita Izunaso, Senator Ndoma Egba, Hajiya Fatimah Mohammed, Alhaji Ahmed Abdullahi and Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola as Chairman.
