Less than 48 hours after he lost his bid to pick the All Progressives Congress (APC) senatorial ticket for Edo North, the Secretary to the Edo State Government, Prof. Julius Ihonvbere, has resigned his appointment.

A statement by the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State, Mr. Peter Okhiria, said the governor has accepted the resignation of Professor Julius Ihonvbere from the cabinet as Secretary to the state government.
The statement added that the governor thanked Prof Ihonvbere for his services to the Government and the state and wished him well in his future endeavours.

Although no reason was given for the sudden exit of Ihonvbere, THISDAY, however gathered that it may not be unconnected with his failed bid to secure the APC senatorial ticket for Edo North.

On Monday, Ihonvbere contested with two others; Senator Domingo Obende who is currently representing the zone at the senate; and a retired Army officer, Francis Alimehena.

Edo North is made up of three blocs: Owan constituency where Ihonvbere hail from; Akoko-Edo, the political base of Domingo Obende; and Etsako constituency the home base of Alimehena.

Besides, the zone comprised of six local government areas. While Etsako has three, Akoko-Edo and Owan have one and two council areas respectively.
At the end of the exercise, both Ihonvbere and Obende lost to their Etsako counterpart with 815 and 198 votes as against 831 pulled by Alimehena, prompting them to cry blue murder and citing ethnic gang up by the Etsakos where Oshiomhole came from.


http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/ihonvbere-resigns-as-edo-ssg/196323/