Governors of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) yesterday met with chief of staff to the president, Ibrahim Gambari on the disqualification of Edo State governor Godwin Obaseki from participating in the gubernatorial primary election scheduled for June 22.

While Kebbi State governor, Atiku Bagudu represented the APC governors also called Progressives Forum, the APC national chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, led the NWC to the meeting which held in the presidential villa.

The APC meeting in the villa comes as Obaseki continues consultations with leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) preparatory to his likely defection to the opposition party.

But rising from yesterday’s meeting, Oshiomhole, in a veiled reference to Obaseki’s disqualification and defection plans, said no evidence suggests that a sitting governor must win an election.

Speaking to State House correspondents, Oshiomhole added that the party is not jittery over plans by the Edo governor to decamp to PDP.

He said ,“All those who decamped with Saraki, they all lost. Those who did not decamp, Bauchi, Adamawa, both sitting governors, lost. Even Governor Kayode Fayemi, as a sitting governor, was defeated by Fayose. So there’s no evidence that being a sitting governor guarantees you victory, it all depends on the local sentiments in the state,” he said.

On the new law by the Edo State government over large gatherings against the backdrop of conducting direct primaries in the state, the APC national chairman, said, “In the face of that law, we saw last week, and I’m sure you guys are very vigilant, that the PDP conducted ward congresses to elect their delegates that will go to stadium.

“And with that, you start to reason whether people can gather up to 5000 in a stadium. Can you achieve social distancing with 5000 people in one location? Can you rather have a situation where you don’t carry people from villages to the centre?” he asked.

Meanwhile, Kano State Governor, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, has supported Obaseki’s disqualification from participating in the forthcoming party primaries, saying his removal was legal.

Ganduje who stated this yesterday during a media parley in Kano, the state capital, explained that what matters to the party is the legal implications of the likely outcome of the exercise.

He said the Bayelsa State experience where the party won the governorship election but later lost it to the opposition on legal grounds is still fresh in the party’s memory. He cautioned the party to be careful and avoid falling into similar trap again.

“As far as the Edo election is concerned, we are worried about the legality of our action. We believe the national headquarters of our party is doing all it takes to stay in the right direction,” the Kano governor said

Culled: Leadership Newspaper