
The report had among others claimed that the penultimate governor of the state, Senator Osehreinmen Osunbor was screened out by the Prof Julius Ihonvbere-led committee that had been mandated to prune the number of governorship aspirants in the APC from 29 to a manageable size.
The exclusion of Osunbor from the three initially recommended from Edo Central was especially shocking.
The three aspirants recommended from Edo Central were Festus Ebea, former APC state chairman, Dave Imuse, and Senator Monday Okpebholo.
The three recommended from Edo North were erstwhile minister of National Planning, Prince Clem Agba, Prince Kassim Afegbua, and Dr Ernest Umakhihe, who recently retired as a permanent secretary in the Federal Civil Service.
The four recommended from Edo South were Lucky Imasuen, Pastor Ize-Iyamu, Mr. Dennis Idahosa, and General Charles Airhiavbere.
However, what raised uproar among APC stakeholders on Thursday when GWG.ng published its report was the pressure on the committee to further prune the list to six.
The committee was expected to prune the list to six with two aspirants from each of the three senatorial districts.
Once the online newspaper published the report, a storm arose over the leak. Two issues from the leak were the personalities that were reportedly being edged out. In Edo South, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, the party’s candidate in the 2020 election and General Airhiavbere were to be pruned out leaving Idahosa and Imasuen. In Edo North, Prince Afegbua was also listed to be removed while in Edo Central, Ebea was to be removed.
