APC Stakeholders Gives Governor Alia Condition for Peace

The stakeholders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Benue State have pledged not to support Governor Hyacinth Alia unless he accepts Senator George Akume, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, as the party’s leader in the state.

According to a source, the internal crisis shaking the APC in Benue is primarily a battle for control of the party’s structure in the state between Governor Alia and the SGF, whose foot soldiers have been at odds.

The problem, however, intensified over the weekend when security agencies engaged the State APC leadership led by Comrade Austin Agada and other stakeholders after the latter insisted on having their scheduled meeting to welcome back Dr. Matthias Byuan, who had just secured an appointment with the federal government.

The decision by the executives was interpreted as a brazen contempt for the governor’s directive to cancel all political activities in the state due to insecurity.

However, the party stakeholders eventually met on Sunday evening at the SGF’s Judges Quarters apartment in Makurdi, rather than the APC secretariat, which had been taken over by security forces.

At the stakeholders’ meeting, they unanimously resolved to continue to wait behind the SGF for the needed leadership.

Addressing the gathering, Byuan expressed anger with the governor, whom he claimed went on the radio to brand him and other party leaders as those who engaged in physical violence on Friday in an attempt to access the secretariat of the party.

He explained, “I was just coming home to show you (stakeholders) the letter of appointment that the SGF arranged for me. We were driving directly to the party office when some young men approached and attacked us, but our boys overwhelmed them and entered the secretariat before the police began firing tear gas.

Senator Titus Zam, who spoke on behalf of Benue North West National Assembly members of the APC in Benue, expressed concern that their beloved party was being targeted.

“Our party is under siege by the governor of Benue State. He is new in politics. The party was generous enough to give him the ticket against those long in the party before him. By God’s grace and with the support of all of us, he became governor. Since he became governor, the APC has had no peace.

“We are doing everything possible to ensure stability and peace to return to our party in Benue. It’s unfortunate that we had an embarrassing situation on Friday when our chairman, Agada, was stoned on his way to his office. PDP held a meeting on Monday, and nobody stopped them.

“We all spread out in the state to help him (Alia) win on the day of the election. We will seek the intervention of the national secretariat of our party to ensure that Alia returns home. We have seen a new situation where a party secretariat has sprung up here (Benue), but nobody is going there,” Zam said.

Meanwhile, a Second Republic federal lawmaker, Senator Jack Tilley Gyado, summarised the meeting by reading the party’s unanimous decision, during which the stakeholders of the Benue APC passed a vote of confidence on Tinubu, his vice, Kashim Shettima, the party’s National Chairman, Abdullahi Ganduje, and Akume for their giant strides in governance, even as they urged Tinubu to run again in the 2027 election.

However, in a statement issued by his spokesperson, Tersoo Kula, the governor expressed concern that the group of stakeholders has stymied Benue’s progress for a long time by preferring party politics to governance, such that once elections are over, they would distract the winners until they were frustrated enough to leave the party, paving the way for them to begin feasting on new aspirants.

Alia insisted, “To them, you are only good when you are running for election. This same group considered Gov. Alia as the sole savior who could deliver them victory in 2023, with the majority of them relying on Alia’s influence and popularity to win elections.

“Despite these series of distractions and unfounded allegations, the Alia administration has a pact, first with the Benue people, who happily voted him into office, and the administration is doing its best to fulfill the yearnings of the people, who are daily voting confidence in the governor and his government. Past governors who serviced the interests of stakeholders in Benue left the state poor and devoid of fundamental development. Yesterday’s meeting revealed a lot of hypocrisy around the clique of 1999 stakeholders in Benue and their unwavering desire to see the Alia administration fail.

“By holding a political meeting against a state order in the Makurdi residence of Sen. George Akume, who is himself a former governor, the SGF has again exposed himself as one who is beating the drums of war for the stakeholders to have an affront on the governor; this is highly unpatriotic and condemnable.”

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Joshua Samuel

A conscientious writer with a knack and passion for story telling which spans across different sectors and segments. I love telling stories in writing and bringing quality, authentic and timely information to everyone everywhere.

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