Edo Guber: Aspirants Won’t Be Required To Sign Undertaking

The All Progressive Congress (APC) National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka has cleared the air over claims in some quarters that the party’s aspirants in the Edo State governorship election would be required to sign an undertaking before the primary election.

The APC chieftain who spoke on Arise TV on Wednesday also expressed confidence that his party will take over power in Edo State, stressing that the deputy governor Philip Shaibu who is also an aspirant in the election is not a threat to the APC.

Morka said, “There’s no such thing as an undertaking. What the party is simply saying is encouraging the aspirants to put the interest of the party above their personal aspirations, to work collaboratively to ensure that the process is smooth and delivers the objective of having the candidate of the party enjoy wider support of members of the party in the state. It’s not an undertaking. Nobody is making anyone sign any undertaking. The party is urging the aspirants to avoid areas that will lead them to court.

“We want to implore internal mechanisms that they may have before, during and after the election.

While responding to a question that the deputy national publicity secretary did talk about signing of an undertaking in an interview, Morka said, “I’m the national publicity secretary and I’m telling you that we’re not requiring anyone to sign any undertaking, rather we’re telling the aspirants to deal as respectively as responsibly, observing the utmost party discipline so that at the end of the day we’ll have a rancor free primaries that will produce a candidate and all of the other aspirants and stakeholders in the party will rally round and support him in the main election. The party is a democratic party, we’re not trying to arm twist anybody not to go to court, we’re simply suggesting and strongly appealing that they should put the party’s interest first so that we can have a harmonious outing at the primaries which energy we’ll carry into the campaigns and hopefully into the election because it’s our desire to win back Edo State come the next election.

On whether he didn’t consider the deputy governor as a threat, he said, “We don’t see him as a threat quite frankly, even though he is the incumbent deputy governor of the state. “One of the legacies of the Obaseki administration in the state is the rift and the rancor, and the intractable feud between himself and his deputy.

“Already the governor and his deputy have been totally compromised not just by the feud but also by their lack of performance in the governance of Edo State. Obaseki has done nothing but fight his deputy who is an aspirant in the coming contest. We’re not concerned about his incumbency because I don’t think Shaibu has anything to offer.

“He barely worked with his governor. They barely accomplished anything. They’ve promoted a high test among the people of Edo state for a change. I think our party has a massive chance and we are hoping that come that election we will prevail,” Morka added.