Chairman, Caretaker/Extraordinary National Convention Planning Committee of the ruling All Progressives Congress APC, Gov. Mai Mala Buni of Yobe state on Wednesday met with the party’s governorship candidate in last Saturday’s election in Edo state, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu.

The meeting which held behind closed doors at the Abuja residence of Gov. Buni also had Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello in attendance.

Although details of the meeting were still kept under wraps as of the time of filing this report, Vanguard gathered that “it was essentially to discuss the way forward”.

Vanguard recalls that APC had on Monday night congratulated Gov. Godwin Obaseki of Edo state on his re-election as governor of the state.

While the party described the re-election of Gov. Obaseki as a victory for democracy, it also urged its candidate, Pastor Ize-Iyamu to follow suit and congratulate the governor-elect.

The statement which was titled, ‘State Governorship Election: Victory for Democracy’ said; “As a party, we join our leader, President Muhammadu Buhari GCFR, to affirm our ‘commitment to free and fair elections’ in order to strengthen ‘the foundation for our political and moral authority’. We commend INEC, our security agencies and all political parties that contested the election for the successful conduct of the election. As a governing party, we will take every step necessary to support the Federal Government to consolidate all the gains achieved.

“We, in particular, want to salute our candidate in the election, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamuh for his tenacity and leadership. We similarly commend our Edo State leaders, especially our immediate past National Chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole and all our members in Edo State for demonstrating unwavering support for our party and our candidate in the election. In the face of all the challenges, we collectively remained faithful and worked tirelessly during the campaigns. We appeal to all our members to be strengthened by the outcome of the election and unite in order to correct all the problems that worked against our party and our candidate in the just concluded election.

“Finally, we specially hereby celebrate our Edo State 2020 Governorship Campaign Council led by His Excellency Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, Governor of Kano State. We acknowledge and appreciate the contributions of all members of the Campaign Council. As progressives and democrats, we are confident that all leaders and members of the party will celebrate the outcome of the election as free and fair as acknowledge by our leader, President Muhammadu Buhari.

“Let us unite to move our democracy for forward. We must put an end to the era when electoral contest become warfare. We urge our candidate and all our members to join us in congratulating Mr. Godwin Obaseki and the PDP, being the declared winner of the election. Our attention must now shift to Ondo State and ensure that we win the October 10, 2020 election. September 19, 2020 Edo election should present a new watershed. We will work hard to win the Ondo election. Having reaffirmed our commitment to free and fair elections, it is our expectation that all opposition parties in the country will also commit themselves to free and fair contests. We will therefore accordingly expect congratulatory message from all parties just as we similarly guarantee that once we are defeated in a fair contest, we will congratulate the winner.

“May God continue to bless our democracy, our nation and our people!”


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