PDP’s Dan Orbih Reportedly Meets APC Candidates, Leaders In Closed-door Meeting

The National Vice Chairman, South, of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dan Orbih has allegedly held a in a closed-door meeting with candidates and leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state.

Sources told Naija News that the meeting was held today, on Monday, 20 February.

The meeting held in Orbih’s house in Benin City, the state capital, and had in attendance former Speaker of the Edo State House of Assembly and former Ambassador to Mozambique, Rt. Hon. Uyi Igbe; Pascal Ugbome and other members of Orbih’s faction.

It was gathered that Orbih, who occupies a sensitive national office of the party, is allegedly plotting to deploy his resources to work for the APC in the general election.

Naija News reports that a faction of the Edo PDP led by Orbih has been at loggerheads with another faction led by Governor Godwin Obaseki.

In a judgement on February 1, 2023, the Supreme Court dismissed Dan Orbih’s PDP faction’s appeal, which sought to challenge the party primaries that produced the Edo state governor.

Omoregie Ogbeide-Ihama’s appeal against the emergence of Godwin Obaseki was declared inadmissible by a five-judge court panel because it was founded on justifications unrelated to the Court of Appeal ruling he had appealed.

Justice Centus Nweze observed in the main judgment that an appeal must be based on grounds presented to the lower court for it to be eligible for review.

According to Justice Nweze, any appeal reason that doesn’t address issues raised by the lower court is ineffective. Hence, he rendered a decision in favor of the respondents.

“Any ground of appeal that does not challenge issues raised at the lower court is incompetent. I enter judgment in favor of the respondents”, the judge declared.

Around eight other appeals were affected by the appeal marked SC/CV/1575/2022, which dealt with the disagreement within the Edo PDP over which group staged an official primary where the party’s actual candidates were picked.

The trial court’s ruling upholding the primary election held by the Governor Obaseki group becomes definitive with the Court of Appeal’s dismissal.

The primary that produced the candidates for the Orbih faction was declared illegal by the trial court among other things because it was overseen by the party’s state leadership.