Edo 2020: Police, DSS, INEC deployed for APC governorship primary

As Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu and Dr. Pius Odubu strive to outscore one another in the APC governorship primary, security operatives have been deployed for the party’s shadow election in Edo state.

A monitoring team from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was also sent to assess the conduct of the ruling party’s primary poll. According to The Nation, officials of the police force and Department of State Services (DSS) have already beefed up security at 192 wards across 18 local government areas for the direct primary election holding today, Monday, June 22.

Both Ize-Iyamu and Odubu were cleared by the ruling party’s National Working Committee (NWC) to contest the shadow election. Hope Uzodimma, the chairman of the governorship primary election committee, on Sunday, June 21, said that not more than 18 people would be allowed into the voting centre at a time.

Uzodimma speaking through his commissioner for information Declan Emelumba noted that the idea was to avoid violating the state government’s COVID-19 regulations. Senator Ajibola Basiru, the secretary of the primary organizing committee while noting that the party is ready for the election said police, DSS, and INEC personnel have been deployed.

Falana made the appeal during the Citizens’ Townhall on Voting Amidst COVID-19 on Wednesday, June 3. The human rights lawyer explained that it had become necessary in order to quench tensions that may come up as a result of campaigns that are set to begin soon.

In another development from Edo state, Pastor Ize-Iyamu has maintained that the exit of Governor Godwin Obaseki from the APC has handed him a victory boost. Ize-Iyamu expressed his confidence ahead of the Edo state election scheduled for September amid specks of dust raised by the internal unrest deluging the ruling party in the south-south state.

With less than three months to the Edo election, Ize-Iyamu, who is a frontline aspirant, claimed that there are a lot of party leaders and members across the 192 wards who have endorsed his candidacy. However, Governor Godwin Obaseki made a stunning revelation regarding the position of the APC governors after his defection to the PDP.

The Edo state governor said on Saturday, June 2020, that his colleague governors in the APC are still supporting him, despite his exit from the party. Obaseki made this known at the national secretariat of the PDP in Abuja shortly after he was screened for the primary election of the PDP.