Edo State Deputy Governor, Philip Shaibu has emerged as the winner of a parallel Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship primary in Edo State.
Edo State Deputy Governor, Philip Shaibu has emerged as the winner of a parallel Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship primary in Edo State.
“After doing the counting of this primary election, Philip Shaibu has a score of 301. Therefore, we hereby declare Mr Shaibu as the authentic elected candidate for this election in PDP,” a man dressed in a yellow T-shirt and black Fez cap declared amidst applause from the cheering crowd.
Shaibu was the only PDP aspirant that the party members voted at the venue.
The PDP primary which Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki and other aspirants will take part in was yet to begin at the time that Shaibu was declared the winner of the parallel primary.
Shaibu, a former ally of Obaseki, fell out with the governor over his ambition to succeed the governor.
The deputy governor is one of the nine aspirants that rejected the outcome of the ward congress of the party where delegates that will vote for the governorship candidate of the party were elected.
A member of the Board of Trustees (BOT) of the party, Charles Idahosa, had said the party in the state would be as good as dead and buried if issues raised by the nine governorship aspirants of the party were not resolved.
It is not clear if other eight aspirants that protested the outcome of the delegates election will also hold a separate primary election.
Some party members in the state believed that Obaseki manipulated the ad-hoc delegates election in favour of his preferred aspirant, Asue Ighodalo.
