The national leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) will on Monday, March 18, in Abuja unveil the representative of Ovia constituency of Edo State in the House of Representatives, Dennis Idahosa, as the running mate to APC’s governorship candidate in Edo for the September 21 election, Senator Monday Okpebholo.
A senior aide to Idahosa in a phone chat confirmed that his boss, a gubernatorial aspirant of the APC in the February 22, 2024 direct primary election, had consented to become the party’s deputy gubernatorial candidate.
He also disclosed that Idahosa would withdraw his lawsuit concerning the contentious shadow poll, owing to the intervention of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Abdullahi Umar Ganduje.
A former representative of Oredo constituency in the House of Representatives on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Omoregie Ogbeide-Ihama, who had concluded arrangements to defect to APC, was earlier tipped to be Okpebholo’s running mate, but he was later dropped for strategic reason.
Ogbeide-Ihama, an ex-governorship aspirant of PDP in Edo, and an iconic member of Chief Dan Orbih-led Legacy Coalition of PDP, had made up his mind to quit PDP with his teeming supporters, for Governor Godwin Obaseki-backed Asue Ighodalo to lose the governorship poll.
Edo’s acting chairman of APC, Jarret Tenebe also disclosed that arrangements had been concluded to unveil the party’s deputy governorship candidate, but he declined to mention the name of the top politician.
Tenebe said: “Our choice of running mate emanated from the people, and we are going to unveil him tomorrow (Monday) in Abuja.
It will be the youngest ticket ever in the history of Edo State, and that is what we will use to defeat the other parties.
“We are not like them (other political parties) that are producing much older people to govern Edo State. We are going to produce a young team.
“For now, I will not mention the name of the running mate to Senator Okpebholo, the representative of Edo Central Senatorial District in the National Assembly. That is why we are unveiling him tomorrow (today) in Abuja. So, everybody will see the politician”
It was learnt through reliable sources that President Bola Tinubu personally intervened in the Edo APC’s political tussle, and directed the Minister of Niger Delta Development, Abubakar Momoh, who hails from Edo North senatorial district, to ensure that Idahosa’s name was submitted as the party’s deputy governorship candidate.
