The National Working Committee NWC of the All Progressives Congress APC has shut down the clamour for zoning ahead of its Edo State Governorship Primary Election, next month.
This was as the party said it has adopted the direct mode of primary for picking its candidate for the Edo election.
APC also said it would attach a letter of undertaken to its nomination forms which aspirants are expected to sign to indicate that whatever the outcome of the primary election, they would not go to court.
According to the ruling party, only one of the 29 aspirants has picked his Expression of Interest and Nomination Forms, urging stakeholders to work towards pruning the number to a manageable size.
Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the party, Duro Meseko disclosed this at a news conference Tuesday in Abuja.
"There will be no zoning. Not at all", said Meseko.
The NWC had on Monday night held a meeting with Edo State APC stakeholders at the national secretariat.
Speaking on the outcome of the meeting, Meseko said; "The NWC has approved direct primary as the mode of election to produce the Governorship Candidate of the party for the state.
"In view of the large number of aspirants, 29, as of last night, the NWC urged stakeholders to unite and see to how we can achieve some reasonable number of aspirants.
"The stakeholders were urged to devise method to agree on something form of consensus to trim the number of Aspirants.
"The NWC urged aspirants to be disciplined and shun the temptation of rushing to the courts immediately after primaries", he stated.
Meseko said it was also resolved that for the smooth running of the party, all members of the party in Edo strate should ensure strict compliance with their financial obligations to the party.
He said the electronic registration of party members shall no longer be conducted until after the primary in order not to derail the primary election in Edo State.
Meanwhile, the leader of the party in the state, Senator Adams Oshiomhole said he and other stakeholders are are determined to reclaim Edo.
He said; "Democracy based on popular participation might be more difficult but cannot be faulted. It allows us to build consensus. It allows us to have conflict and in the end, provided we understand that the majority will have their way while the minority have their say.
"We are particularly determined, as you can see everybody here has a robust past and even present. We are determined to reclaim Edo State. I used the word reclaim because Edo is ours. We lost it due to several factors some of which were caused by some APC elements.
"Nobody needs to lecture Mr Chairman on this because even as Governor of Kano state you offered to lead the last campaign and even relocated. Almost all the Kano state executive council relocated to Benin for days just to ensure that the last governorship election that we won it, but unfortunately not everybody believes in party participation to the extent that you did.
"Giving your commitment the other time when you did not have any obligation, but rather than voluntarily accepting to lead and to help us win the election in Edo, now I believe you have a duty much more compelling to see that this election is won.
"On our part, we have tried to initiate dialogue among our aspirants. It is no secret, that at the time we had the dialogue, I think they (aspirants) were 27. I learned it has increased to 29 now. The process is ongoing, and the struggle continues", he said.
Earlier, National Chairman of the party, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje said the meeting was to discuss important issues about having an election in September this year.
"Since we were sworn in as the new or reformed NWC, we said it would not be business as usual because our party as a progressive party is supposed to be a party with clear-cut objectives.
"Edo is an APC State. You know one of us went on sabbatical leave, and he decided to take up a permanent appointment.
"Now we have to take Edo back. We have only one state from the South-South for the greatest party in Africa. It is not acceptable. We were able to get only Cross River State. After crossing so many rivers we succeeded in getting Cross River State. But Edo State, we must get it by the grace of God", he added.
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