Edo State All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship hopeful Professor Amadasun Ebegue has said that there is no room for an anointed candidate in the chapter.
Ebegue urged Governor Adams Oshiomhole and the party leadership to provide a level playing ground for contenders during the shadow poll.
The oldest aspirant who made this known while speaking with reporters in Benin-City, the state capital, said the outcome of the primary will determine the fate of the party at the poll.
Reflecting on the alleged endorsement of a particular aspirant by the governor, he said: “I think the governor has given copious reasons for his action. The governor is entitled to his choice. As the party leader and governor, he should have an interest as to whom succeeds him. But, that does not trample on the right of any other member of the party to aspire. It is going to be a free and fair primary and if the governor’s candidate wins, we will all join in working for him to make sure that we win the election and I guess if it is other wise, all the members will also join to make sure that whoever emerges is assisted to become the governor of the state.
”The university don described himself as the most experienced and competent aspirant to succeed the governor
He stressed: “I am the oldest politician among the aspirants. Twenty five years ago, I was a gubernatorial aspirant and since then, I have been in politics, although I have not been contesting elections. I am a consultant at the UBTH, but I have been the leader of my people all this while and I think it is time to go back to what I left behind in 1991.
“So, as far as political experience and knowing what the people want, I am the most competent. If it is so, who do you think is better qualified than me? Is it grassroots ability, orientation or in whatever area you think any other person on the field is qualified more than I? I believe I am the best.”
Ebegue said that a credible primary is the answer to the selection challenge, urging the party to brace up for it.
He said: “There is no reason why the right thing will not be done. From experience,e since the advent of the present political dispensation, primary elections are usually free and fair. They are usually done in the open, especially for primaries like this, we go to the stadium where people come out in the open, take their ballot papers, vote whoever they want, drop it in the box and thereafter, the ballot papers are sorted and counted. So, whoever is a democratic should be able to accept who emerges from such an exercise, if it is free and fair.”
The scholar said asking other aspirants to step down their ambition to work for another aspirant is undemocratic, adding that he will not participate in that arrangement. Unfolding his ambition, he said all the sectors will be transformed, if elected as governor.
