From Tony Osauzo, Benin
The decision of the Edo State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), granting one lawmaker and 14 other lawkers-elect on the platform of the party in 2019 the right of first refusal, is being challenged by fresh aspirants to the State House of Assembly.
The Chairman of the party, Col. David Imuse, retd, announced the decision at the weekend after the meeting of the Executive Committee of the party in Benin City.
But yesterday, some aspirants for the Edo State House of Assembly protested the directive of the leadership of the party that they should step down their ambition for automatic tickets for 15 members.
The aspirants who were at the premises of the state Secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), said the blanket ticket for them was wrong as some of them were already aspiring for other positions like the House of Representatives, some of them have got other appointments and others have lost touch with their people.
One of the aspirants, Victoria Amu from Owan West constituency, said “We were invited to the APC secretariat where the chairman reeled-out his riot act on all aspirants especially those of us whose 14 members did not go into the house of assembly. They failed to give us the statistics of the 14 that are still contesting, instead they hid them under a blanket coverage.
“For me in Owan West, one of the 14 is in London right now, he really does not care. He used to tell us all in the local government that London was closer to him than Sabongida-Ora. He didn’t come for this meeting yet, they want to give him the ticket”
Recall that all the 24 members of the Assembly were ected on the platform of the APC in 2019 out of which 14 of them were not inaugurated while the 15th who inaugurated has been reportedly frustrated because he refused to defect to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) when Godwin Obaseki left the APC with the remaining nine inaugurated members. The lawmakers have become popularly called G-14.
Reacting to the protest of the aspirants, the chairman of the party, Col. Imuse said the decision was a “party decision and as party members, they should abide by it. It is just like the same way aspirants during our national convention were prevailed upon to step down for our new national chairman”, he explained.