Two Edo governorship aspirants; Chris Ogiewonyi and Ken Imasuagbon have submitted petitions to the appeal committee set up to hear the petitions from the just concluded governorship primary in Edo state, by the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC), even as they rubbished the way governor Bello Masari conducted the election.
The appeal committee has, however, summoned all the stakeholders, including the governor Aminu Bello Masari led committee to clear the hear on the alleged irregularities at the primary.
Speaking with newsmen at the APC national headquarters on Tuesday in Abuja, chairman of the appeal committee, hon. Opeyemu Bamidele, said the national leadership of the party has given his committee free hands and a go ahead to conduct the sittings, assuring that all the issues raised in the petitions will be addressed.
“We confirmed as a committee that we have received two petitions and the national chairman of the party was also copied and the party has given us the go ahead and a freehand to conduct our sittings.
“We also have gotten in touch with the two aspirants who sent in their petitions to explain the position and timing of our sitting and by the grace of God both of them would also be appearing before us tomorrow (Wednesday) and definitely, all issues raised in their petitions would be addressed.
When asked to be specific on the allegations raised by the aggrieved aspirants, Bamidele said: “They were talking f perceived irregularities, they are talking about possible manipulation of the electoral processes yeah, I mean, they themselves have put everything in the public domain. And as a matter of fact, the press conference had been addressed before we even received copies of their petitions. So and like I said the issues they raise in the petition are not substantially different like the ones that they have laid before you gentlemen of the media and, which are already in the public domain.
“What is important is that we will be inviting them to come and try to substantiate the allegation and to provide detail of the fact. We will also be inviting other relevant stakeholders. From the National Secretariat of the party and from all the other stakeholders who participated in the process of the primaries so that at the end of the day, we will be in position to write a balanced report.
On whether Masari-led committee will be invited, he said: “definitely, these are issues of detail that we will also make available tomorrow as we commence our sitting. As you can see we have been here for a while, we will also go to continue our preliminary discussion.
“Some of the people that would appear, we have already contacted them and the ones that we need the support of the party to also get in touch with, we have discussed extensively with the National Organising Secretary of the party on behalf of the National Working Committee of the party and the party would also you know activate the machinery of trying to invite everybody. Be rest assured that all relevant stakeholders would be contacted and appear to shed more light.”
