Edo State Governor Godwin Obaseki says the All Progressives Congress’ National Working Committee has no power to decide how the party governorship primary in state will be conducted .
The primary has been scheduled to hold next month, with the governorship poll fixed for September .
The APC NWC headed by Adams Oshiomhole has ordered direct primary .
Obaseki has been locked in a fierce battle with Oshiomhole over the control of the party in Edo .
The governor , who spoke through his Special Adviser on Media and Strategy , Crusoe Osagie , on Friday , said the NWC could not take any decisions on the primary without the National Executive Committee of the party .
Obaseki said, “ That report was a scoop , there was no meeting of the NWC in which the decision was taken .
If the Oshiomhole camp is having it at the back of their minds that it is what they want to do, they don’ t have the power to do that .
“ The power to direct what kind of primary to do rests on NEC and NEC at the last meeting decided that because of the dissenting voices , all modes of primary should be decided by the different state chapters as it was done in Kogi and Bayelsa. In Kogi , for example , they determined the kind of primary they wanted , and in Bayelsa , the same thing happened .
“ So, in Edo , the same method will be adopted , according to the rules of NEC . We will now write the NWC to say this is the mode of primary that we want .”
Osagie said a statement from a senior member of the party and former governor of the state ( Chief John Odigie – Oyegun) had already confirmed that the President had adopted Obaseki and Ondo State Govenor , Rotimi Akeredolu , as the preferred candidates for the governorship elections unless they decided not to run .
The issue of the conduct of the primary has become a major topic among political observers in the state even as the various political groups strategise towards presenting a formidable aspirant against Obaseki in the primary .
Our correspondent learnt that the direct primary would involve all registered card-carrying members of the party in each council.
However, it remains unclear how the Edo APC ’s direct primary will be conducted as the party remains factionalised , with one side loyal to Obaseki and the other to Oshiomhole .
Meanwhile, a political analyst and former Chairman of the Academic Staff Union of Universities , Prof Julius Iyasele , said except something was done urgently to resolve the crisis, the state could be heading to anarchy .
