The All Progressives Congress (APC) chapter in Benue State is in disarray due to allegations that Mr. George Akume, a former governor of the state, tried to install a Deputy Governorship candidate against the will of the majority of party members.
According to reports, unless Senator Abdullahi Adamu, the party's national chairman, steps up to the plate and prevents a party collapse, Akume's selection of a deputy governor might jeopardise the party's chances of winning the governorship race in 2023.
Akume and two other people are rumoured to be bent on fielding their favourite person at the expense of the party, in contrast to the position of APC leaders, elders, and stakeholders in the Benue South Senatorial District to be allowed a free hand and due process in selecting a popular Deputy Governorship candidate to shore up the party's acceptability.
In a petition to the APC national chairman, the party was encouraged to intervene swiftly and reverse any unpopular choices that would put the party at odds with the state's true supporters and voters.
Senator Ameh Ebute, a former president of the Senate, and Chief John Agada, secretary of the Benue South APC Stakeholders, both signed the warning letter.
Among other things, the APC Benue South Senatorial District leaders claimed that Akume had been attempting to impose his nephew Sam Ode on the party's governorship candidate, Reverend Father Hyacinth Alia, by deploying two henchman, Chief Simon Shango and Senator Jack Tilley Gado.
The letter, dated August 17, 2022, with the subject line "Impasse on the choice of the Deputy Governorship candidate in Benue State," forewarned that the members will fight any attempt to impose Sam Ode on the populace.
The letter to Adamu read in part ” Once again, we wish to use this medium to draw Your Excellency’s kind attention to yet again, an undercurrent scheming by the leaders of the party in the state, and Senator George Akume in connivance with two of his kinsmen, Chief Simon Shango, and Senator Jack Tilley Gado to undermine the interest of the party in our Zone by imposing their nephew, Hon Sam Ode as the running mate to the governorship candidate, Rev. Father Hyacinth Alia.
“Sir, reliable information at our disposal is to the effect that on Tuesday 16th August 2022, a plan was hatched by the trio above to convene a meeting of some selected members of the State Working Committee of the party in Benue State at a designated venue in Abuja for the sole purpose of passing a vote of confidence on the purported choice of Hon Sam Ode as a running mate by just a handful of this leaders without any form of consultations with the leadership, elders and other stakeholders in Benue South Senatorial District.
“In arriving at the new plot, Senator George Akume, Chief Simon Shango and Senator Jack Tilley Gado, who conceived this latest plot as their last resort and mindful of the fact that members of the State Working Committee of the Tiv extraction from the two Senatorial District of Zone A and B will overrule that of the Benue South Senatorial District (Idoma) that will constitute one-third of those in attendance.
“It is in the light of the above that we wish to state loud and clear that for the record any meeting of the State Working Committee called for the purpose of imposing either Hon Sam Ode or any running mate of the Governorship candidate is without the blessings of the leaders, elders and other major stakeholders of Benue South and will, therefore, remain unacceptable.
“Constitutionally, we are mindful of the fact that the Governorship candidate is empowered to pick his running mate after due consultations with relevant stakeholders without any interference.
“The consequences of this deliberate manipulation in the 2023 general election should be better imagined than real.
“Some aggrieved members are already on their way out of the party because of the sole administrator-style the party is being run in the state.
“We implore you to do the needful to salvage the reputation of the party in Benue state because of the dwindling acceptability of the party and the fact that the initial enthusiasm that the emergence of the Governorship candidate attracted is already waning” the letter stated.
The stakeholders maintained that Akume’s planned endorsement meeting, is to undermine the Benue South expanded Elders and stakeholders convention held on 30th July 2022 where over 12 aspirants for Deputy Governorship were in attendance and the list arrived at in the meeting was forwarded to the National Secretariat of the party as instructed for possible selection of acceptable candidate.