A leading governorship aspirant in the upcoming Edo gubernatorial elections has announced that his faction of the APC has rolled out ground rules and processes to produce a consensus candidate to fly the party’s flag. Retired Gen. Charles Airhiavbere who spoke in Benin said transparency would be the hallmark of the selection process of a candidate to be fielded by the APC in the governorship elections, slated for Sept. 19.
The APC is currently having two factions in Edo with the Airhiavbere faction, which calls itself the “progressive faction’’, having a crowded field of eight aspirants, one of whom dropped out of the race on May 25. The other aspirants, including Airhiavbere are Dr Pius Odubu, the immediate past Deputy Governor of Edo, Mr Chris Ogiemwonyi, Mr Osagie Ize-Iyamu and Mr Saturday Uwelekhue. Also in the race are Prof. Frederick Amadasu, Mr Ehiozuwa Agbonayima and Mr Solomon Edebiri, who has withdrawn.
Airhiavbere said that adopting transparency model would produce a consensus candidate that would be acceptable to everyone. According to him, all the `progressive’ aspirants have agreed on a common ground to produce a consensus candidate and that a process for the candidate to emerge has been put in place. The stalwart said that the acceptable candidate would be someone, who would have the endorsement of everyone across the length and breadth of the state.
He said that the process agreed to by the aspirants include, proper screening of aspirants, to avoid rancor as well as ensuring transparency to forestall litigations after the emergence of the candidate. The APC chieftain said that the process would be articulated so well to ensure that the candidate became a winning material in the election.
Airhiavbere, who contested the 2015 governorship primaries against incumbent Godwin Obaseki said that any aspirant who would follow the footsteps of Obaseki would not be elected as a governorship candidate of the progressives. He debunked media reports that the faction already had a consensus candidate, saying that only one aspirant dropped out. Airhiavbere said that other progressives and himself were working on a process that would work for the Edo people.
