Asue Ighodalo, a businessman, has won the governorship primary election of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo state.
Dauda Lawal, governor of Zamfara and returning officer of the election, declared Ighodalo winner of the primary poll on Thursday.
Lawal said Ighodalo secured 577 votes to defeat other aspirants in the race.
Earlier, Philip Shaibu, the deputy governor of Edo, won the parallel governorship primary organised at his residence. Shaibu won the primaries with over three hundred and one votes.
The ten aspirants cleared to contest the governorship primary are Hon. Omosede Igbinedion; former chairman Edo State APC, Anselem Ojezua; former chairperson of Esan West Local Government Area, Felix Akhabue; Felix Akhabue, former managing director of Sterling Bank, Dr Asue Ighodalo; Edo State Deputy Governor, Philip Shaibu; Arthur Esene, former House of Representatives member, Omoregie Ogbeide-Ihama; Amb. Martin Uhumoibi, Osaro Onaiwu and Umoru Hadizat.
No fewer than 576 delegates were expected to decide the fate of the 10 aspirants at the primaries holding at Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, Benin.
The exercise will be conducted by an electoral committee chaired by Zamfara State Governor Lawal, Dauda Lawal with Governor Sheriff Oborevwhori of Delta as co-chairman. Other members of the committee are Senator James Manager (secretary), Senator Bayero Nafada, Mrs Nella Rabana, SAN, Hadiza Mustapha and Chief Felix Hyatt.
The party’s State Organising Secretary, Tony Anenih Jr., released the processes of the exercise in a statement, highlighting where the delegates and other people involved in the process, including the media, would gather, how they would be accredited, and how the exercise would be conducted.
After weeks of consultations amid high-wire intrigues, a host of the aspirants are upbeat over their chances of winning the ticket in what is being billed as a two-horse race between Ighodalo and Ogbeide-Ihama.