There was a mild drama on Thursday in Imo state following the emergence of two candidates in a senatorial primaries organised by All Progressives Congress, APC.
The primaries was conducted by the party to elect a candidate to represent the APC at the October 31 by-election for Imo North senatorial district.
Igbere TV however gathered that two separate primaries of the same APC held simultaneously in two different locations in the state, producing two candidates.
In one of the primaries conducted by a faction of the APC, Frank Ibezim scored 13,637 votes to emerge Senatorial candidate.
He was declared winner by the Chairman of the election panel, Senator Ajibola Basiru, who is also the Senate Spokesman.
In another factional APC primary, Senator Ifeanyi Ararume who polled 22,944 votes was declared winner of the contest by a member of the election panel, Umar Gana.
How the Primary Committee split
Before the primary election commenced proper, there was alleged moves by a prominent politician in the state to favour his preferred aspirant to emerge as consensus candidate.
The move was, however, resisted by two members of the Committee including the Secretary whose Primary produced Ararume, while four others and the Committee chairman Primary produced Ibezim.
‘No parallel primary’, says APC
But reacting to the development, Friday, the APC while dismissing the conduct, said there was no primary elections for the Imo north Senatorial election.
The party in a statement forwarded to Igbere TV by its deputy spokesman, Yekini Nabena, said the Senator Ajibola Basiru-chaired Primary Election Committee is the duly appointed and legitimate panel empowered by the Party to conduct the exercise.
APC said the clarification is necessary in view of media reports of a purported “parallel” Primary Election for the legislative By-Election in Imo State.
“Only outcomes from the Senator Surajudeen Ajibola Basiru-chaired Primary Election Committee is tenable and will be accepted by the party,” the party declared.
Igbere TV reports that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) concurrent legislative by-elections (Imo North inclusive) are scheduled for October 31.
