The lawmaker representing Etsako West Constituency 2 in the Edo State House of Assembly, Gani Audu, has emerged as the running mate to the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress in the state, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu.
Audu, a former Chairman of Etsako West Local Government Council of Edo State, was strategically unveiled on Saturday.
A source close to Ize-Iyamu, who spoke in confidence to our correspondent, disclosed that Audu was picked to neutralise the impact of Edo Deputy Governor, Philip Shaibu, who is from the area, since the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Governor Godwin Obaseki, had insisted on vying with Shaibu.
The immediate past National Chairman of APC, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, a former Edo governor, is from Iyamho in Etsako West LGA of the state.
The September 19 governorship election in Edo State will be a straight fight between Obaseki and the 2016 governorship candidate of the PDP (Ize-Iyamu), who defected to APC last December and was given a waiver to contest on May 21 by members of the Oshiomhole-led National Working Committee of the party.
Obaseki, penultimate week, defected from the APC to the PDP, following his disqualification by the Prof. Jonathan Ayuba-led seven-member APC screening committee.
Just yesterday, Dr. Benjamin Akhigbe, a grassroots mobiliser, also won the governorship ticket of the African Democratic Congress in Edo State. The party endorsed Princess Mabel Oboh as his running mate.
