By Ozioruva Aliu

BENIN CITY – A frontline governorship aspirant in Thursday’s Peoples Democratic Party governorship primary in Edo State, Ogbeide-Ihama withdrew from the race few hours before the official commencement withdrawn from the race.

He stated this in a letter dated 12th February and addressed to the National Secretary of the party, Sam Anyanwu and copied to the National Working Committee of the PDP.

In the letter, he said “Over a year ago, In response to the overwhelming calls from a diverse section of our citizenry, | began the painstaking consultation process with various stakeholders in our state.

“Based on their response, | set out on the journey of contesting for the governorship position of Edo State, following all the laid down processes provided by our party’s National Working Committee.

“Unfortunately, the process was corrupted by the several Irregularities that marked the ward congress organized by our party in the state. I and eight other aspirants voiced our dissatisfaction with the transparency of the process and the culpability of the committee that was sent to oversee the process. It was glaring that the process had been skewed to favour a particular aspirant unjustly.

“As committed party members, we followed established processes to express our dissatisfaction by approaching both appeal panels set up to address issues arising from the congress with evidence of apparent violations of the guidelines published by the party.

“Unfortunately, the National Working Committee’s continued intention to deny aspirants a level playing field sadly ignored the recommendations from both panels. This situation has made it impossible to continue with a process In which I have lost confidence in its integrity and credibility.

“Having consulted with my family, key stakeholders, and supporters, I have taken the hard, honourable, and logical decision to withdraw from the process of selecting a candidate for our party for the 2024 Edo Governorship Elections.

“I will further communicate my subsequent actions with you if and when necessary,” the former House of Representatives member stated.