Gov Obaseki’s Preferred Aspirant Emerges Edo PDP Governorship Candidate

Mr Ighodalo hails from Ewohimi in Esan South-east Local Government Area of Edo Central District, an area to which Mr Obaseki favours power shift.

Mr Obaseki hails from Edo South District, while his predecessor, Adams Oshiomhole hails from Edo North, same as his deputy, Philip Shaibu, the basis he rejected his deputy’s ambition to succeed him.

Barely known in Edo politics, Mr Ighodalo told his kinsmen last December that he has been a member of the Edo Economic Team constituted by Mr Oshiomhole since 2008.

Mr Obaseki, who was the chairperson of the Economic Team before succeeding Mr Oshiomhole as governor in 2016, returned to the team to pick his former colleague as his preferred aspirant.

Parallel primary/ political feud

There was confusion earlier in the day as a parallel governorship primary of the party was held at another venue with Mr Obaseki’s deputy, Philip Shaibu, as the sole aspirant.

Mr Shaibu, who polled 301 votes from the primary, was declared the authentic governorship candidate of the party, this newspaper earlier reported.

Events leading to the Edo PDP governorship primary have been shrouded in confusion as nine aspirants, including Mr Shaibu, rejected the ward congresses where ad-hoc delegates that will vote for the governorship candidate on Thursday were elected.

The aspirants had protested the outcome of the delegates’ election which some party leaders believed Governor Obaseki manipulated the outcome in favour of his preferred aspirant, Mr Ighodalo.

Mr Shaibu, a former political ally of Governor Obaseki, fell out with the governor over his ambition to succeed Mr Obaseki as governor of the state.

Messrs Obaseki and Shaibu have been having a long-running political feud that resulted in Mr Obaseki relocating the Office of the Deputy Governor from the Government House to another location in the state.

Messrs Obaseki and Shaibu have been having a long-running political feud that resulted in Mr Obaseki relocating the Office of the Deputy Governor from the Government House to another location in the state.

Before their feud, Mr Shaibu first served as a State lawmaker and later a federal lawmaker, the position he resigned in 2015 and paired with Mr Obaseki on a joint APC ticket where they contested and won the governorship election in 2016.

Their victory at the poll was smooth with the support of Mr Oshiomhole who was then governor of the state.

Four years after, Mr Oshiomhole who later became the national chairperson of APC denied Mr Obaseki the party’s ticket for a second term, a development that forced the governor to defect to the PDP.

Mr Shaibu defected to the PDP with the governor, a platform they contested and won a second term in 2020.

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