The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has postponed its primary election for the Edo governorship poll from Friday to Tuesday.
Kola Ologbondiyan, spokesman of the party, announced this in a tweet on Thursday
Godwin Obaseki, governor of Edo, is expected to join the party following his resignation from the All Progressives Congress APC).
The APC had disqualified the governor from its June 22 primary and Obaseki subsequently resigned from the party,
He later met with Nyesom Wike and Udom Emmanuel, his Rivers and Akwa Ibom counterparts, who are of the PDP and an expanded meeting involving Uche Secondus, national chairman of the PDP, and some governors held in Abuja on Wednesday.
TheCable had reported that the PDP had been waiting in the wings for the APC crisis to boil over so that it can provide a platform for Obaseki.
He had been at loggerheads with Adams Oshiomhole, suspended national chairman of APC who supported him in 2016.
Oshiomhole is believed to be backing Osagie Ize-Iyamu who has been named the consensus candidate of one of the APC factions in Edo.
PDP postpones Edo guber primaries
by Gbade Ogunwale, Abuja
The National Working Committee (NWC) of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has announced the postponement of the party’s Edo state governorship primary election to Tuesday, June 23.
The primaries were originally slated for Friday, June 19 and Saturday, June 20, 2020.
A statement on Thursday by the spokesman for the PDP, Kola Ologbondiyan, said the decision was predicated on exigencies of party activities.
The announcement came following a series of meetings between some power brokers in the PDP and the embattled governor of Edo state, Mr Godwin Obaseki.
Although the party was silent on Obaseki, it was gathered that the decision to postpone the primaries was taken to enable the leadership of the party make the necessary adjustments to accommodate Obaseki in the exercise.
Our correspondent reliably gathered that several other meetings between the leadership of the PDP and the embattled governor were slated to hold late on Thursday.
Baring last minute hitches, the governor is expected to announce his defection to the PDP on Friday, having resigned his membership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Tuesday.
The statement by Ologbondiyan enjoined all the party’s governorship aspirants, critical stakeholders, party faithful, and supporters in Edo state, to adjust to the new date.
“Our party wishes to remind our members that all activities shall be in accordance with the Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC)’s guidelines on COVID -19, as it concerns social/physical distancing at public gatherings,” Ologbondiyan said.