By Ehichioya Ezomon
As time is of the essence – and to meet up with the schedule of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for political parties to conduct their primaries for the 2027 General Election – the All Progressives Congress (APC) has fixed its primaries in 8,809 wards in the 774 local government councils and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city.
Allowing all registered members to participate in the direct primaries, even for “candidates” reportedly endorsed through consensus, the contests began with the House of Representatives on May 16, 2026, to be followed by the Senate on May 18, State Houses of Assembly on May 20, governorship on May 21, and the presidential primary on May 23.
Ahead of the primaries, The Nation correspondent in the Edo State capital city of Benin City, Osagie Otabor, on May 9, 2026, filed a copy, “Crisis creeps into Edo APC,” which sums up the frenetic happenings in the chapter of the ruling party.
The occurrences are traced to alleged “imposition of candidates” for national and state assemblies by Governor Monday Okpebholo, and the gathering resistance therefrom, especially by the people of Edo South senatorial district: that external forces can’t dictate who to represent them and their intetests mostly at the Senate of the National Assembly.
The article identifies blocs battling to control the Edo APC as, the “aborigines” (foundation members), who ensured survival of the party, and asking to be rewarded for loyalty; the “nomadics,” who move in and out of APC to seek its ticket or to support their preferred aspirants; and the APC non-member legacy group of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), led by former Edo chapter chairman, Dan Orbih, and backed by ex-Rivers Governor and Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, Nyesom Wike.
As Okpebholo “holds the aces on who gets the APC ticket,” those he’s “endorsed” for the senatorial seats are: Sen. Adams Oshiomhole (Edo North), Sen. Joe Ikpea (Edo Central), and Hon. Omoregie Ogbeide-Ihama (Edo South), with many leaders, especially political appointees, “lining up with them.”
The report adds: “The ‘anointed’ aspirants for the House of Representatives are: Hon. Omosede Igbinedion (Ovia), Dr Paddy Iyamu (Oredo), Dr Washington Osifo (Uhunmwode/ Orhionmwon), Osaze Igbinovia (Ikpoba-Okha/Egor), Lucky Eseigbe (Esan West/Igueben/Esan Central), Odianosen Okojie (Esan South-East/Esan North-East), and Mr Blessing Agbomhere (Etsako). It is not clear yet who the Governor is supposedly supporting in Owan and Akoko-Edo federal constituencies.”
The posers: Is Okpebholo’s “endorsement” in line with the APC constitution and the Electoral Act 2026, which mandate consensus or direct primary to select candidates? Did he consult stakeholders in the wards, councils, constituencies and districts before the endorsement? Did he deploy executive powers, against the dictates of the law, to hand-pick the candidates?
Importantly, have the aggrieved aspirants bought the APC’s prescribed Expression of Interest and Nomination forms, and returned same; have they officially presented their rejection of consensus applied by Okpebholo to endorse some aspirants, and their preference for direct primary to elect the candidate? They should adhere to these procedures for their grievances to have merit, and be judiciously attended to by the APC!
For the record, the “crisis” in the Edo APC dates back to the revolt during the February 25, 2023, presidential poll, by Edo voters, especially in Edo South, who resurrected the ghost of the 2020 governorship election to punish the APC candidate now incumbent President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Accused of trying to hurt Governor Godwin Obaseki’s re-election against his challenger, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, the aggrieved voters cast their ballots for former Anambra Governor and the Labour Party (LP) candidate, Peter Obi, who defeated Tinubu to the second spot in Edo State.
The worry, though, is the realisation that except Okpebholo, who wasn’t then in the loop, the characters that caused the 2020 controversy in Edo are the same instigators behind the alleged “imposition of candidates” for the 2027 poll in the state.
In 2016, then-Edo Governor Oshiomhole, campaigning for his “anointed” successor, Mr Obaseki, launched scorched-earth attacks against Ize-Iyamu, who lost the election to Obaseki. But shortly after, Oshiomhole and Obaseki fell apart, with Obaseki accusing Oshiomhole of wanting to dictate to him as a “godfather.”
After his eight-year tenure (2008-2016), Oshiomhole became national chairman of the APC, and with his National Working Committee (NWC), took a pound of flesh from Obaseki by refusing to clear him for re-election in 2020.
Having defected to the PDP along with Deputy Governor Philip Shaibu, Obaseki allegedly obtained the PDP ticket via the influence of Orbih’s ally, Wike, who stepped in to counter Tinubu’s reported support for Ize-Iyamu, whom Oshiomhole campaigned for as if he’s the one on the ballot.
Two factors dominated the campaign: the PDP deft recall of Oshiomhole’s words against Ize-Iyamu in 2016; and Edo South voters’ resistance to Oshiomhole and Tinubu with a viral slogan, “Edo no be Lagos” (Edo is not Lagos) – a reference to Tinubu’s hold on Lagos politics, where his word is final on who gets what in elective and appointive positions.
In the end, Obaseki defeated Ize-Iyamu in the reversed re-match, setting the stage for the 2024 poll in which Obaseki backed his Lagos-based friend and business associate, Asue Ighodalo, to fulfil his (Obaseki’s) reported promise to zone the governorship to Edo Central.
Ighodalo, easily nominated after Obaseki quashed his deputy, Shaibu’s ambition, squared off against then-APC candidate, Sen. Okpebholo (APC, Edo Central), whose pick was allegedly intrigued by Oshiomhole, and chairman of the governorship primary committee, Imo Governor Hope Uzodimma.
Oshiomhole wanted then-Rep. Dennis Idahosa (APC, Ovia Federal Constituency) from Edo South, as the party candidate, and reportedly influenced Uzodimma’s decision to announce the primary results, as having won by Idahosa, even as collation was ongoing. Okpebholo came tops in the final tally.
Coupled with several contestants claiming to’ve won the primary, the Presidency, which backed the governorship going to Edo Central, reportedly urged a repeat of the exercise, and the APC replaced Uzodimma with his deputy chairman of the primary committee, Cross River Governor Brassey Otu.
Again, Okpebholo defeated Idahosa, and by horse-trading, Oshiomhole secured for him the running mate spot in the September 21, 2024, poll that Okpebholo won by 291,667 votes to Ighodalo’s 247,655 votes – a margin of lead of 44,012 votes.
Notably during the repeat primary, aspirant Ize-Iyamu stepped down for Okpebholo, and campaigned for him for the election. Also, the Obaseki estranged PDP legacy group of Orbih, Shaibu, and former Rep. Ogbeide-Ihama (PDP, Oredo Federal Constituency), who, via Wike’s support, wanted to pair Okpebholo for the governorship, joined forces with the APC to defeat the PDP.
At the “negotiations” for the Wike brand of collaboration between the PDP and APC, known as “PDPAC” or “Rainbow Coalition,” Okpebholo and the APC allegedly “agreed” with Wike and the PDP legacy group to cede Edo South’s seat to Ogbeide-Ihama for the 2027 poll.
True to the reported “agreement,” Okpebholo has “endorsed” Ogbeide-Ihama for Senate, and that’s riled up Edo South indigenes, home and abroad, to take up arms against Okpebholo, Tinubu and Wike for externally “imposing” Ogbeide-Ihama on them “without adequate consultation and consent,” and resist “misue of executive powers in violation of democratic tenets.”
Claiming that the Esan Central people of Esanland determined the senatorial slot for their district, and Edo North people of Afemai determined the slot for their district, the Edo South people of the Benin Kingdom demand that they be allowed to decide who occupies their slot in the Senate.
They’ve threatened Tinubu and Okpebholo with “electoral consequences” in their re-election at the presidential poll on January 16, 2027, and the governorship poll in September 2028, accordingly, if their “preferred candidate,” Pastor Ize-Iyamu, is shut out of the Senate primary due to the governor and APC’s alleged mortgaging of the seat to external influence.
Will Governor Okpebholo, who’s “endorsed” Ogbeide-Ihama, and other aspirants for National Assembly and Edo State House of Assembly seats, reverse his backing considering the alleged “agreement to compensate” the external forces that collaborated to secure victory for him and the APC in the fiercely-contested poll of September 2024?
Unless he’s prepared to “have his way” in the short-term, and “have his say” in the long-term, Okpebholo, who preaches observance of the rule of law, and participatory democracy, shouldn’t shut out aspirants from the direct primaries, with consensus failing to produce acceptable candidates, as in the Senate seat for Edo South. Let his choice not be one for regret for him, Tinubu and the APC!
LAST LINE: As of this copy on Sunday, May 17, 2026, results declared by the Edo APC chairman, Emperor Jarret Tenebe, show a mixed – bag for those reportedly endorsed by Governor Okpebholo. They’re as follows:
Oredo Federal Constituency: Dr. Paddy Iyamu (7,088 votes, defeats incumbent, Eseosa Iyawe); Ovia: Hon. Omosede Igbinedion (Affirmed/Returned unopposed); Ikpoba-Okha/Egor: Hon. Felix Osazee Igbinovia (Defeats preferred Pius Alile); Uhunmwonde/Orhionmwon: Hon. Billy Osawaru (Affirmed, defeats preferred Dr Washington Osifo).
Etsako: Hon. Anamero Sunday Dekeri (alias Danco) (Defeats preferred Mr Blessing Agbomhere); Esan North-East/Esan South-East: Hon. Odianosen Okojie; Esan Central/Esan West/Igueben: Dr. Lucky Eseigbe; Akoko-Edo: Barr. Bankole-Balogun (3,368 votes, defeats Paul Afeghase and Adetutu Owolabi); Owan: Hon. Andrew Ijegbai (Defeats incumbent Prof. Julius Ihonvbere).
Perhaps this field-tested outcome makes nonsense of or undercuts the alleged “imposition of candidates” by Okpebholo, prompting the Edo APC chair, Tenebe, to describe the primary as “the freest and fairest ever conducted by any party in the state,” and issued Certificates of Return to the successful aspirants.
- Mr Ezomon, Journalist and Media Consultant, writes from Lagos. He can be reached on X, Threads, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp @EhichioyaEzomon. Tel: 08033078357
