A week to the September 21, 2024, governorship election in Edo State, Senator Francis Alimikhena and Hon Omoregie Ogbeide-Ihama have formally dumped the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the All Progressives Congress (APC).
According to report the duo were in the 8th and 9th National Assembly, respectively.
Alimikhena is the immediate past senator representing Edo North Senatorial District, while Ogbeide-Ihama is also the immediate past representative of Oredo Federal Constituency.
The duo were both received into the party by the National Chairman, Alhaji Abdullahi Umar Ganduje.
Speaking, Senator Francis Alimikhena, who said he was glad to be back in the APC, assured that he would mobilize his followers to vote for the party in the governorship election.
On his part, Ogbeide-Ihama said he had earlier advised his former party, the PDP, against its decision when it brought in Governor Godwin Obaseki in 2020, but they didn’t listen to him.
“In 2020, I advised the PDP against impunity when they brought in Governor Godwin Obaseki through the back door. In 2024, Governor Godwin Obaseki, who came through the back door, went to Lagos to bring Asue Ighodalo through the same back door.
“The man only joined the party in September last year. That impunity must stop.
“All those who supported the impunity, the National Working Committee, they should come with their Voter Cards on Saturday, while those who didn’t face their states and said that the governor must produce his successor should also come on Saturday.
“The governor and I are from the same local government. The results will tell. We did that to him in 2020; we will do it again for Monday Okpebholo in 2024,” he said.
According to report Francis Alimikhena contested the senate seat with Senator Adams Oshiomhole on the platform of the PDP.
DAILY POST also recalls that President Ahmed Bola Tinubu had, on August 19, 2024, appointed Omoregie Ogbeide-Ihama as the new Executive Director (Strategy & Commercial) of Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC).