President Bola Tinubu on Friday received the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress in the forthcoming Edo State election, Monday Okpebholo, and his running mate, Dennis Idahosa at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
This was as the Edo State APC chapter affirmed confidence in its chances of clinching the governorship seat in the forthcoming election.
It premised its confidence on the disarray among the ranks of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party in the state.
The APC also said asides from the crisis in the PDP, its (PDP) candidate, Dr Asue Ighodalo, was detached from the people of the state.
It argued that this factor gave its candidate, Monday Okpebholo, whom it described as a grassroots politician, the upper hand at the polls.
The delegation was led to the Villa by former governor of the state, Adams Oshiomhole and the Minister of Niger Delta Developmengt, Abubakar Momoh.
The meeting came barely 24 hours after a Federal High Court in Abuja faulted the primary election of the PDP, which produced Ighodalo as its flag bearer.
When approached by reporters for comments after the meeting, Okpebholo described it as private talks and declined to speak.
However, the leader of the APC in Edo State, Senator Adams Oshiomhole, expressed confidence that the APC would win by capitalising on the disarray in the PDP, in which it has no hand.
Reacting to allegations that PDP primary election crisis was orchestrated by the APC, Oshiomhole said, “I think you should dismiss that because this is the PDP versus PDP and you know that by the law, another party cannot go into intra-party conflicts in court.
“The PDP legacy group complained that the man they gave their master bedroom has completely chased them out of the building and now, they’re under the rain and as we speak, they are still trying to settle.
“I think the lesson is that parties must be encouraged to obey the laws that regulate the conduct of primaries, and that rules are meant to be obeyed if you formulate your constitution.”
On the reason for the visit, the former governor explained, “We went with the candidate and the running mate to give the President an update on the campaigns going on, what we are doing and the fact that we are harvesting more people, and every day, more people are defecting.”
Also speaking, the Minister of Niger Delta Development, Momoh, affirmed that the APC has the advantage in the coming election.
