The All Progressives Congress, APC, Zonal Chairmen in Benue State have stated that the crisis rocking the party is between the Benue State Governor, Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Alia, and the party, and that it has nothing to do with Comr. Austtin Agada and the party’s leader in the state and Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Sen George Akume.
The chairmen, led by Zone C chairman Bishop Pinot Ogbaji, stated this in a no-holds-barred press conference in Makurdi on Thursday.
Ogbaji said the heightened rumblings in the party are because of Gov. Alia’s disregard for the party since his inauguration and the lack of consultation with them in the appointment of caretaker committee chairmen of local government councils in the state.
He further explained that the party was not pushing to usurp the powers of the governor but insisting he must consult in good faith rather than allowing the party to micro-zone local government caretaker committee positions before discarding them and appointing persons unknown to the party.
Ogbaji likened the condition of Benue State APC to “a helpless husband with a very beautiful wife that sleeps around with only his neighbours and enemies while he, the lawful husband, is deprived of his conjugal rights.”
He said Governor Alia seemed to have more confidence in patronising people outside the APC. He warned him that the “emergency APC stakeholders” he consults were those who kicked against his emergence as the party’s flagbearer in the last election, adding that they tormented him with litigation until it terminated at the Supreme Court.
Bishop Ogbaji said the last trip of the so-called party stakeholders leaves much to ponder about, especially as Sen Barnabas Gemade, who levied monumental litigation against Alia, led the likes of Sen Ameh Ebute, who fought against the nomination of the deputy Gov, Sam Ode, on a voyage to the governor.
