Less than three months to the Edo state governorship election, a court judgment has invalidated the primaries of the state’s People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
This development has drawn parallels with the Zamfara and Rivers state All Progressives Congress (APC) primaries in 2019.
In 2019, the APC in Zamfara and Rivers states faced internal wrangling that led to the invalidation of their primaries. In Zamfara, a supremacy battle between former Governor Abdulaziz Yari and Senator Kabiru Marafa’s factions resulted in a protracted intra-party feud.
The two factions went into primaries without spreading an olive branch. However, the primaries were later considered invalid by the apex court, which also declared that the first runners-up take over all the seats the APC had previously won in the general elections
Similarly, in Rivers, a federal high court annulled both the direct and indirect primary elections of the APC due to a subsisting court injunction
The judge, therefore, ordered the Independent Electoral Commission, INEC, to prevent the APC from presenting the names of its candidates in the elections.
Edo PDP Primaries: A Repeat of History?
Fast forward to 2024, and the Edo PDP seems to be facing a similar crisis. The February 22 governorship primaries were separately conducted by the factions of Governor Godwin Obaseki and his former deputy, Mr Philip Shaibu.
The former deputy governor was impeached amid the imbroglio over alleged leakage of the government’s classified information to the public and was subsequently defeated in the primaries. But he vowed to challenge the process of the primaries at the court. True to his words, his loyalists took the matter to court, and the primary that produced the PDP governorship, Asue Ighodalo, was declared invalid.
The court held that some of the delegates who were qualified to participate in the primaries, which the Obaseki-led faction conducted at Ogbemudia Stadium in Benin, were not allowed to vote, a decision the court said was contrary to the party’s Constitution and Electoral Guidelines for the Primary Elections which states that all the delegates of the political parties must be allowed participate in the processes.
The court said, “There is no doubt that the 2nd defendant (the PDP) neither complied with the relevant provision of its constitution nor the Electoral Guidelines for primary elections of 22nd February 2024. It is the law that political parties must obey their constitution, guidelines, and regulations. The failure to comply with the Electoral Guidelines is not different from the effect of non-compliance with the constitution of the political party or noncompliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022.”
PDP’s Response
The PDP has disputed the court’s decision, claiming that the primaries were duly and legally conducted. According to the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Hon. Debo Ologunagba:
“The Party affirms that the Congresses and subsequent Governorship Primary that produced Dr. Asue Ighodalo as the winner and Party’s flagbearer were duly and legally conducted in strict compliance with the provisions of the Constitution and Electoral Guidelines of the PDP, the Electoral Act, 2022 and the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended)”.
He continued: “The PDP maintains that no eligible delegate was excluded from participating in the Primary election which accreditation, polling, counting of ballot, collation, and declaration of results were publicly conducted, monitored by officials of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and relevant security agencies at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, Benin City which exercise was also duly broadcasted live on national TV stations and multiple Social Media platforms.”
‘ Relief from imposition of forgery ’
The APC, on the other hand, has welcomed the court’s decision, calling it a “relief from imposition of forgery”. According to the Director of Publicity Committee of the APC Governorship Campaign Council, Comrade Orobosa Omo-Ojo:
“The news of the disqualification of Mr. Asue Ighodalo as the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) candidate has been received by the Edo people as relief from imposition of forgery and continuation of self-serving governance in our state”.
Analysts weigh in
Analysts contend that what is about to haunt the PDP are the ghosts of the Zamfara and Rivers APC 2019 general elections. However, they say to prevent the electoral menace, the PDP must seek redress at the appellate court with convincing evidence that the primaries weren’t fraught with irregularities and that eligible delegates weren’t denied the opportunity to vote for their preferred candidates.
