A governorship aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Barr. Omosede Igbinedion has said that she declined to appear before the appeal panel on the outcome of the delegate congress of the party because she participated in the exercise and does not want the party to be washing its dirty linen in public.
Recall that some aspirants, especially those that are members of the Edo PDP Legacy Group or Legacy Coalition, had alleged huge irregularities in the exercise and called for its outright cancellation.
Speaking on the issue on Tuesday, Igbinedion, the daughter of the Esama of Benin, Chief Gabriel Igbinedion said she participated in the delegate election in Okada, headquarters of Ovia Northeast local government area.
Igbinedion said she was never a member of the PDP Legacy Group or Legacy Coalition and had opted to be a loyal member of the party claiming that the group worked against her and the party in the 2023 presidential and National Assembly elections.
According to her, “The PDP is set to retain Edo. The party has performed and together we will defeat the APC.
I am not going to be washing our dirty linen in public. I am not going to sit here and use comments that are negative concerning how my party carried out an activity to the detriment of my party. I don’t want to dwell on the past. I don’t want to be a hindrance to anybody and I believe in the growth and development of the party. No matter what, even amongst us or even amongst the people that are disgruntled right now, only one person can emerge.”
On the appeal, she said “I will also say that I think I am even one of the only people that has a right to actually appeal because I was the only person that went to the field. Everybody else boycotted the ad hoc delegates election. I was the only person that went to the field to participate. So good or bad, I was there so therefore, I can challenge something that I was part of. I did not abstain and the choice of abstinence has come at a price, obviously, I think that’s the price that they are pursuing now.
“It would have been better if everybody went to the field, whatever it is, and, you know, decided, okay, you know, what, what is what they thought on the field. But right now, too, as well. It’s like secondhand information. For me, I can speak based on what I saw, on what transpired and that is why I withdrew from going to the appeal, because whatever I would have to say, would be first hand evidence. It would not be hearsay. I know they were not happy with me for withdrawing but I also did not feel very comfortable because I am not part of the Legacy Group. Legacy Group worked against the party and worked against myself in the last election. So why will I go and join a group that worked against me in the last election? But like I had mentioned earlier, I have to set aside my personal issues in the best interest of the party not to go on appeal.”