A former president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Olumide Akpata has clinched the Labour Party (LP) ticket for the September 21, 2024 governorship election in Edo State.
His emergence in a contest for which the Peoples Democratic Party and All Progressives Congress have chosen their candidates from the super minority Edo Central Zone (Esan) has created the fear of a possible massive disruption in the governorship contest.
In fact, Akpata himself had hinted at the possibility of massive disruptions in a recent Whataspp chat with THE CONCLAVE.
THE CONCLAVE reports that Akpata, who caused a dsiruption in the NBA presidential election in which he defeated a number of SANs to emerge winner, a few years ago, has his majority Edo South senatorial zone to lock down if he must cause a significant positive disruption in his favour.
THE CONCLAVE reports that while the APC and PDP are looking to Edo South to pick their running mates, Akpata is looking to Edo North, the next most populous senatorial zone for his running mate.
The choice of running mate from Edo North will aid his planned upset of the governorship election equation.
These scenarios are coupled with the fact that Labour Party came second in the 2023 senatorial election that produced Senator Monday Okpebholo on the APC platform. About 7,000 votes separated Okpebholo and the LP candidate.
The LP won the senate seat in Edo South and two of the five house of reps seat in the zone.
It was only in Edo North that the LP was tamed by the APC under the commabd of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole and his foot soldiers. APC will have a lot of pacifying to do now that it has denied him [Oshiomhole] who is supposedly the leader of the APC in the state the opportunity to produce the party’s candidate as it happened in Kogi and Benue States.
THE CONCLAVE reports that a massive and well-funded campaign by the LP in a season of partisan frenzy and economic hardship may cause some indifference to tribal agendas and sway Edo people to look out for capacity and merit on the part of the candidates.
Meanwhile, Akpata scored 316 votes to win the Labour Party prinary poll held at the Bishop Kelly Pastoral Centre, Airport Road in Benin City.
The Deputy Governor of Abia State, Ikechukwu Emeta, who is also the returning officer for the election, declared Akpata as the winner of the election.
Recall that in August, 2023, the corporate lawyer, 51, resigned from the law firm of Templars where he served as a senior partner, to throw his hat in the ring for the governorship of Edo.
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