The emergence, Thursday, of the former Chairman of Sterling Bank Plc and co-founder of the law firm of Banwo & Ighodalo, Dr. Asue Ighodalo, as the Edo Central Senatorial District Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) consensus governorship aspirant in the Edo 2024 election may have paved the way for his emergence as the party’s candidate at the primaries slated for 22 February.
The resolution to adopt Ighodalo was announced during the Edo Central PDP Caucus meeting chaired by the Senatorial Vice Chairman of the party, Archbishop Anthony Okosun, at the PDP Senatorial District Secretariat in Uromi.
The party’s decision followed the report of the Edo Central PDP Special Committee chaired by the National Leader and former Foreign Affairs Minister, High Chief Tom Ikimi.
Archbishop Okosun, in a press statement made available to journalists after the meeting, said the Senatorial Caucus accepted the recommendation of the Special Committee and adopted Barr. Asue Ighodalo as the consensus aspirant of the PDP from Edo Central Senatorial District.
“The Edo Central PDP Caucus met today, Thursday, January 11, 2024, in the PDP Senatorial District Secretariat in Uromi. The meeting was chaired by the Senatorial Vice Chairman of the party, Archbishop Anthony Okosun in accordance with section 20(1)(a) of the 2017 PDP Constitution (as amended),” Okosun said.
“The caucus in accordance with its functions as spelt out in section 20(2), considered the report of the Edo Central PDP Special Committee chaired by the National Leader, High Chief Tom Ikimi,” he said.
The statement enumerated the resolutions adopted by the Senatorial District to include:
“1. The Senatorial Caucus applauded the members of the Special Committee for the diligence and transparency they applied in carrying out their assignment.
“2. The Senatorial Caucus accepted the recommendation of the Special Committee and adopted Barr. Asue Ighodalo as the consensus aspirant of the PDP from Edo Central Senatorial District.
“3. The Senatorial Caucus noted that the adoption of Barr. Asue Ighodalo is without prejudice to the right of any other aspirant to pursue his or her aspiration.
“4. The Senatorial Caucus mandated the Special Committee to lead Barr. Asue Ighodalo and introduce him to all stakeholders in the state as the consensus aspirant of the Edo Central PDP.”
With his emergence as the consensus PDP aspirant in Edo Central, a zone clamouring for the state’s number one seat in the interest of equity and fairness, Ighodalo looks certain to clinch victory at the primaries next month as he will have no opposition within the senatorial district.
The coast had been clearing for the frontline governorship aspirant after fellow aspirants in the PDP from Edo Central began to reassess and drop their aspirations in support of him.
Last week, Ighodalo received a boost to his aspiration to succeed Governor Godwin Obaseki at Dennis Osadebay Avenue when, on Saturday, a leading governorship aspirant in the PDP and the House of Representatives member representing Esan West, Esan Central and Igueben Federal Constituency in the National Assembly, Rt. Hon. Marcus Onobun, informed the Ikimi-led Edo Central PDP Special Committee that he was withdrawing from the race in order to support Ighodalo.
Onobun’s message was conveyed in a letter read by High Chief Ikimi during a meeting of the PDP Special Committee assigned with the task of screening the party’s governorship aspirants from the Senatorial zone.
“I have done consultation across the state, and in the spirit of sportsmanship and respect for our leaders, I wish to suspend my aspiration for Edo Governorship 2024 and support my brother, Barr. Asue Ighodalo,” Onobun said in the letter he personally signed and addressed to the committee.
“It is my desire to see an Esan man become Edo Governor in 2024. And I pledge my commitment to take a front seat in this struggle. God bless my leader and the Edo Central Special Committee,” he said.
Another aspirant, Senator Clifford Ordia, also announced to the committee that he had decided to queue behind Ighodalo’s aspiration, saying that in the overall interest of the party, personal sacrifices must be made.
Earlier, two other aspirants in the PDP, Friday Itulah and Hon. Kenneth Ahbulimen, had also withdrawn from the race and declared support for Ighodalo, citing patriotism and the interest of Esan and Edo people for their decisions.
On Wednesday, 10 January, a two-time Chairman of Esan North-East Local Government Council and governorship aspirant of the PDP, John Yakubu, stepped down from the gubernatorial race and declared his total support for Ighodalo.
Yakubu, who spoke with journalists at Igueben, the administrative headquarters of Igueben Local Government Area, shortly after a closed-door meeting with the Ikimi-led Edo Central PDP Special Committee, said he decided to step down for the interest of the party as well as the positive activities displayed by the leading governorship aspirant.
“After due consultation across our top party leadership spectrum, members of my campaign organisation, and my teeming supporters across the three Senatorial Districts and beyond, I have decided, for the overall interest of our party and the yearnings of Edo people to continue to have the PDP at Osadebe Avenue, to lay down my gubernatorial aspiration,” Yakubu said.
“Going by the wise direction paved and shown by our party senatorial leadership so far, the body language of members of our party, and the positive activities displayed by Dr. Asue Ighodalo himself, it has become very clear that he, Dr. Asue Ighodalo, stands in good position to bring about this much-needed development to us as a party and in the state.
“On this ground, I stand solidly behind Dr. Asue Ighodalo, not only as our gubernatorial candidate but in all of the activities that will ensure his victory and our victory at the polls come September 2024,” he said.
