A fresh report has dismissed a document by the Appeal Committee of the All Progressives Congress (APC) purportedly nullifying the governorship primary of the party in Benue State.
The state chapter of the party had adopted direct primary for its guber exercise held on 27th May, 2022, with a suspended Catholic priest, Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Alia emerging as winner.
There were claims on Saturday that the Barr. Uzoamaka Onyeama-led committee had recommended the cancellation of the exercise in its report to the National Chairman of the party, Sen. Abdullahi Adamu.
However, the appeal committee, in a majority report dismissed all petitions and reports from party faithful and citizens of the state, including governorship aspirants, Sen. Barnabas Gemade, Prof. Terhemba Shija, Mr. Michael Aondoaka (SAN), that claimed governorship primary didn’t hold.
The 11-page document dated June 1 was signed by secretary, Gyang Dung Gyang and member, Hon Lawal Na-Rogo.
According to the verdict of the committee, “Engineer Banabas Gemade, his allegations that there was no election and that votes were arbitrarily allocated to the contestants is dismissed on the strength of Annexure C and the sighting by the committee of the committee of the membership registers that were used for the accreditation of voters in all the council wards of the state”.
It added that “Matthias Ibyuan, his allegations that elections was conducted in only two local government areas is dismissed on the strength of annexure C and the sighting by the committee of the membership registers that were used for the accreditation of voters in all the council wards in the state.
“Prof Terhemba Shija allegations that elections was conducted in only selected council wards, and that votes were arbitrarily allocated to candidates is dismissed on the strength of annexure C and sighting by the committee of the membership registers that were used for the accreditation of voters in all the council wards in the state. Furthermore he didn’t state in his petition the council wards where elections were held and the wards elections where not held.
“Barrister Michael Aondoakaa alleged that he national secretariat of the All Progressives Congress has no right to resort to direct primary after candidates had expended huge resources campaigning from door to door for votes. The panel dismissed the petition on the strength of annexure B. Furthermore that the candidates spent huge resources on the door to door campaign goes to prove that the aspirants were soliciting the votes of members and not delegates.
“Chief Steven Lawani’s allegations that elections were not conducted was dismissed on the strength of annexure C and D”.
The committee, therefore, concluded that “having found no substance in any of the petitions challenging the legality and procedures of the primary, the panel hereby upholds the result and position of the governorship primary election committee and submits that the governorship primary in Benue State using direct mode were done in substantial compliance with all the laws and procedures stipulated in the conduct of direct primaries for the election of candidates”.
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