The former governor of Edo State, Senator Adams Oshiomhole, says President Bola Tinubu was against the zoning of the governorship ticket of the APC to any part of the state. Rather, he said the President was all out for a free and fair gubernatorial primary rerun scheduled for today, saying the turn-by-turn arrangement in a political setting kills democracy.
Oshiomhole, who was speaking with newsmen after meeting with President Tinubu queried the APC over its insistence on zoning in the state but looked the other way in Kogi, where the kinsman of former Governor Yahaya Bello took over from him. He maintained that it would be unfair for the APC to implement zoning in the party’s rescheduled primary for the forthcoming gubernatorial election when it did not do so in Kogi and Benue States. Oshiomhole, who is representing Edo North Senatorial District in the National Assembly, said the Edo State chapter of the ruling party was not interested in “turn-by-turn democracy.” He insisted that after discussing the zoning question with President Tinubu, he expressed his commitment to only a free and fair primary. He said the President told him that the rescheduled primary should not be based on zoning but on the will of the majority of APC.