Oshiomole Says”No Going Back On Screening, Incumbency Does Not Guarantee Election Victory.

By Precious David (9News Nigeria)

The National Working Committee (NWC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has said there would be no going back on the results of the screening of governorship aspirants for Edo last week.

National Chairman of the APC, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, disclosed this to State House Correspondents on Monday evening after the NWC’s meeting with the Chief of Staff to the President, Professor Ibrahim Gambari, at the Presidential Villa.

Oshiomhole, who led other members of the NWC to the meeting, also allayed fears that the party might lose Edo to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) if Governor Godwin Obaseki, decamps and eventually gets its governorship ticket.

Others present at the meeting were the Chairman of the Progressive Governors’ Forum (PGF) and Governor of Kebbi State, Atiku Bagudu as well as four members of the APC NWC, including the National Vice Chairman (North West) Barr. Inuwa Abdulkadir; National Treasurer, Adamu Panda; National Welfare Officer, Ibrahim Masari and National Publicity Secretary, Malam Lanre Issa-Onilu.

Speaking on the possibility of the APC losing Edo State to the PDP in a situation reminiscent of the Benue experience, Oshiomhole said incumbency alone was not enough to give victory in an election, pointing out the fact that the peculiar political sentiments of Edo State would determine the winner.

“All those who decamped with Saraki, they all lost. Those who did not decamp, Bauchi, Adamawa, 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.

“I think we need to get away from this fixation. Whether in America, Britain or in Nigeria, there are plethora of cases where sitting governors lost, sitting senators left, sitting reps lost.

“There’s no guarantee that if you field somebody because he has incumbency you’ll win. Incumbency also has its liability, depending on the sentiment of the people of the state,”he argued.