Edo poll: Fresh crisis rocks PDP over primary election

The recent Edo State governorship primary election has sparked a new crisis inside the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as Deputy Governor Philip Shaibu insists he should receive a certificate of return because he won.

Shaibu, the winner of a parallel primary, stormed the PDP National Secretariat on Wednesday to demand the return certificate.

Less than twenty-four hours had passed since Dr. Asue Ighodalo, the winner of the party’s acknowledged primaries, received a certificate of return from Amb. Umar Damagum, the acting national chairman of the party. The deputy governor did not meet with any members of the National Working Committee (NWC) while he and a few of his aides were in the secretariat.

He, however, insisted that the party must abide by its own rules or be prepared to face legal action. Speaking to reporters shortly after leaving the office of the PDP acting national chairman, Shaibu said: “Today is 28th of February, 2024. By the PDP guidelines approved by the NWC on the Edo 2024 governorship primary, today is the day set aside by the electoral guidelines that the certificate of returns will be issued. “I am here to receive

my certificate of return because I won the primary in Edo where the authentic delegates voted. If you look at the board of the party office here, you will see the names of all the delegates that voted for me.

“Today is the presentation of Certificate of Return according to the party, so PDP must follow its rules and guidelines. This is what we are talking about.

“The process of producing a candidate has been compromised from the onset and we ask that those things be corrected. Even the committee that recommended the political solution is fully aware that there were abnormalities in the process that led to my emergence and whoever.

But why I am here is to obey the guidelines to come and receive the certificate of return and I was told that somebody else came here yesterday and was given the certificate. “I think the court will tell us who between us is the real candidate, but I am here in fulfillment of the electoral guidelines of the PDP to receive my certificate…