‘VAR’ Produced APC Candidates in Edo — Tenebe

‘By Arit Mbeh

The Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Edo State, Mr. Jarrett Tenebe, has asked those declared winners of the party’s primaries in the state to consider themselves lucky.

He made the statement at a meeting convened at the instance of Governor Monday Okpebholo on June 4, 2026. “If you get the ticket of the party, count yourself lucky and be ready to serve the people,” Tenebe told his audience, made up primarily of APC candidates and a few leaders drawn from across the 18 local government areas of Edo State.

Tenebe also disclosed at the meeting, which was held at the Edo State Government House, that ‘VAR’ (Video Assistant Referee) was deployed by the APC to determine the winners of the contentious party primaries.

Tenebe during his remarks, said that APC leaders were the VAR during the exercise and praised them for their good work. However he did not mention the APC VAR-Leaders.

He told some of the losers who were present to take heart because they were not “dying now” and may have their opportunity at a later day.

“Once there is contestation, there is bound to be tension and because of the kind of leaders we have, tension was not much.

“For those who love football, you have referee, you have lines men and you have VAR. The reason why VAR is introduced is because the referee who is officiating a match might be biase and to draw the attention of the referee to an incident to come and look at it again. And most of the time, the VAR overturn the decision of the referee.

“The reason why I am saying this, is because the leadership of the party in the state could have interest in a candidate and that’s the reason we have VAR as leaders, a crop of lesders.

“That’s the reason am saying special thanks to them, because there were occasions where the leaders that were VAR of election drew the attention of the referee to certain things”

The meeting, which was called to facilitate dialogue between winners and losers of the primaries in the state, was largely boycotted by aggrieved aspirants who have refused to accept the outcome of the exercise.

A majority of leaders from Edo South Senatorial District were also absent.
Apart from Senator Matthew Urhoghide, former Deputy Governor Pius Odubu and several others stayed away from the meeting.

Leading aspirants—including Senator Neda Imasuen, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, Prof. Julius Ihonvbere, Hon. Marcus Onobun, Mr. Osaro Obaze, Dr. Ernest Afolabi and others—were visibly absent, despite having been invited.

The winners-and-losers meeting called by Okpebholo was held amid clarifications by APC National Chairman, Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, on why the party has not released the official list of successful candidates for the 2027 general elections.

The chairman confirmed on Thursday that the party is yet to release the official list of candidates who emerged from its primaries. He disclosed that a final decision on candidates who emerged from the recent nationwide primaries has not been taken because petitions and appeal reports are still being reviewed by the party’s legal department and the National Working Committee (NWC).

The APC chairman noted that no list of candidates would be submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) until the reviews are completed.

Midwest Herald reports that Yilwatda made the party’s position known when some aggrieved stakeholders from the Niger South Senatorial District stormed the APC National Secretariat in Abuja on Thursday to demand the cancellation of the senatorial primary election conducted in the state.

The protesters alleged widespread irregularities during the exercise and called for a fresh primary election, insisting that the process that produced a candidate for the district did not reflect the wishes of party members. They claimed that results were announced without actual voting.

Speaking broadly, Yilwatda said: “The process is not completed until all appeal reports are reviewed. We are awaiting the legal department’s report, after which the National Working Committee will take the necessary decisions in line with due process.”

Midwest Herald can report authoritatively that the APC NWC received about five different petitions from Edo State, particularly from candidates who participated in the Edo South Senatorial primary, which produced three separate results.

Each of the results declared Senator Neda Imasuen, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu and Engr. Omoregie Ogbeide-Ihama as winners.

Professor Julius Ihonvbere was also declared winner in his re-election contest for Owan Federal Constituency. Similarly, Hon. Marcus Onobun’s victory celebration was aborted when the election committee announced Okpebholo-backed aspirant Lucky Esigbe as the winner, despite Onobun’s claim that collated ward results indicated otherwise.

His claim is contained in a petition he filed shortly after the primary election to the APC Primary Election Petitions Committee, arguing that ward results across the constituency showed he won the election.

On his part, Senator Imasuen, in a petition to the APC Appeal Panel and the NWC, wrote that despite the unwholesome tactics allegedly deployed by party officials—particularly the state secretary, Mr. Lawrence Okah—he emerged with the highest number of lawful and valid votes cast.

According to the petition: “…after the conclusion of voting and collation from the various wards constituting the seven (7) Local Government Areas making up Edo South Senatorial District, he emerged with the highest number of lawful and valid votes cast and was therefore the clear winner of the primary election.”

He added that: “…however, to his utter shock and that of his supporters, the members of the Primary Election Committee suddenly disappeared and their whereabouts became unknown immediately after the collation process.”

Senator Imasuen further stated in the petition that: “…credible information available to him revealed that certain party stalwarts, acting in concert with Hon. Ogbeide-Ihama, compromised members of the Primary Election Committee and influenced them to abandon the lawful result of the primary election.”

And that: “…thereafter, the said committee resurfaced in the company of hired thugs and proceeded to announce a fabricated and manipulated result purporting to declare Hon. Ogbeide-Ihama as winner of the primary election.”

He stated categorically that: “Such declaration is false, unlawful, invalid and unsupported by the actual votes cast at the wards across Edo South Senatorial District.”

The authentic results, according to him, are those obtained from the various wards across Oredo, Egor, Ikpoba-Okha, Ovia North-East, Ovia South-West, Uhunmwonde and Orhionmwon local government areas, which clearly established that he scored the highest lawful votes and won the primary election.

A summary of the lawful votes obtained by the three aspirants, according to the petition, is as follows: Senator Neda B. Imasuen (35,001), Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu (14,544), and Hon. Ogbeide-Ihama (7,785).
Concluding,

Senator Imasuen drew the attention of the Appeal Panel and the NWC to the “genuine ward results collated at the various LGAs,” which he said demonstrated beyond dispute that he won the primary election and ought to have been returned as the duly elected candidate of the party for Edo South Senatorial District.

He argued that: “The purported declaration of Hon. Ogbeide-Ihama as winner is contrary to the lawful votes cast; contrary to the genuine ward results; procured through manipulation and compromise; and invalid, null and of no effect whatsoever.”

He pleaded for an “Order setting aside and nullifying the purported declaration of Hon. Ogbeide-Ihama as winner of the Edo South Senatorial Primary Election held on 18th May, 2026.”