Edo State Chapter of the Association of Local Government Chairmen of Nigeria (ALGON) has said that indirect primary election was safer, humane and healthy alternative than direct primary, for the nomination of the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in the forthcoming election scheduled for September 19.
The association made its position known at a press briefing at the APC State secretariat in Benin City.
John Akhigbe, executive chairman of Etsako Central Local Government, who addressed the media, said the body stands solidly and irrevocably with the position of the state leadership of the party under the chairmanship of Anselm Ojezua.
Akhigbe opined that the proposed direct primary governorship nomination process for the political party in the midst of global coronavirus pandemic is irresponsible and humanly reckless.
“For a party that was founded on the principles of the supremacy of the interest of the people, Edo State ALGON is shocked that the National Working Committee (NWC) of our party had supposedly opted to conduct a direct primary process of nomination for Edo governorship election.
“We believe that the members of the NWC will not want to be chronicled as the political leaders who were willing to sacrifice the lives of their members for the ungodly advantage of securing a political advantage in an election.
“As members of ALGON with intimate knowledge of the health concerns of our communities and the corrosive blight that the coronavirus can inflict on our people if we fail to follow the guidance of health experts, we cannot, in good conscience, support a political exercise that will put the health of our people in grave danger,” the group said.
“We are indeed shocked that anyone or group of persons with genuine concern for the lives of Edo people will, at this point in time, be proposing a massive gathering of people with all the local and global best practice prescription of “social distancing” discarded for all kinds of contorted excuses,” the group’s chairman further said.
While noting that council chairmen and other elected representatives have been working closely with the state taskforce to contain the spread of COVID-19 in the state, added that they are not unaware of the health dangers the pandemic portends to the people of their various community.
The association, who passed a vote of confidence in the Governor Godwin Obaseki, administration, noted that in the past three-and-half years, the administration has impacted positively on the lives of the people in all sectors of governance.
