Olumide Akpata, the former National Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association, emerged victorious in the Edo State Labour Party governorship primary election on Friday.
After tallying the votes, Akpata was pronounced the winner by Ikechukwu Emetu, the Returning Officer for the election and Deputy Governor of Abia State.
According to Emetu, the lawyer received 316 votes to win the competition.
In December 2023, Akpata clarified that Edo State Governor Godwin Obaseki was not supporting his ambition.
He denied that Obaseki would support him in the event that his preferred Peoples Democratic Party candidate was not elected.
Akpata added that people who claimed he was trying to pay cash for the LP ticket were acting immaturely.
When he made an appearance as the Special Guest at the Edo State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists’ 2023 Press Week award ceremony, he addressed reporters in Benin.
He said, “That I am sponsored by Godwin Obaseki is an unfounded and baseless rumour. It was bandied around by two irresponsible online blogs that I shall be going after with all the venom that I can muster because my approach to fake news is that you nip it in the bud and you deal with it before it festers.
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“It has also been bandied around by some disgruntled politicians, including in my party, and I said to them that it is a very weak argument or reasoning.
“My relationship with the governor has never been hidden, so it is only politicians who don’t know how to agree to disagree that quickly conclude that when two contenders sit together, they must belong to the same camp.
“In the old Bendel State, my father’s elder brother, Senator Olu Akpata, was in the UPN in 1979, his cousin, Tayo Akpata, was the Chairman of NPN in the same state. They had lunch and dinner together.
“The family I belong to are honourable people. Those who know the Akpata family in Benin know that we are honourable people. If I cannot go into politics on my own, and get the prize that I am looking for I will stay at home.
“I am a successful lawyer. Politics is not my job. It is out of interest that we have come to the rescue of this state and Nigeria. I cannot be the hireling of anybody,” he added.
On the issue of being a moneybag, Akpata said, “As the Americans would say, I put my money where my mouth is and you know, these people who say I am a moneybag have been spending before I came into the scene. So, I just wonder what the issue really is. You know when people get uncomfortable with a competition that they cannot match up to, they must look for something to say.
“They are only giving a dog a bad name to hang it. The LP is not as financially buoyant as the other parties. So it is important that all of us who are true party members come together and help our party. I shrug off the claim that I am a money bag. However, Politics is expensive all over the world,” he added.
