Benue South APC disowns purported re-zoning of chairman

… reaffirms support for Akume

The Benue South chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has distanced itself from the purported rezoning of the state party chairmanship position.

According to a statement signed by its zonal chairman, Hon. Muhammed Hassan, it said such move is orchestrated to mislead the public on the position of the critical stakeholders of the party.

Recall that the APC’s most coveted position in the state was zoned to Ogbadibo LGA by the Chief John A. A. Ochoga led Special Zoning/Harmonisation Committee for Zone C.

Fast-rising political activist, Comrade Austin Agada, was confirmed as the consensus choice to rule the party.

But following reports of a reversal after a meeting in Otukpo, Hon. Hassan said neither the party leadership in the zone or state is aware of such arrangement.

He described the said gathering as an “illegality that cannot birth any meaningful resolution that will be binding on the party”.

He, however, passed a vote on confidence on the Minister of Intergovernmental Afairs, Senator George Akume, who is the state’s party leader.

According to him, the overwhelming goodwill the party now enjoys across the state is as a result of his firm and visionary leadership.

Hon. Hassan assured Akume of the zone and state’s backing in his quest to become national chairman of the party.

Read full statement below:

The attention of the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the Benue South Senatorial district has been drawn to a communique orchestrated to mislead the public on the position of the critical stakeholders of the party in the district, regarding the state chairmanship position of our party in Benue.

We urge the public to discountenance the communique which does not reflect the true position of the Benue South APC stakeholders as generously contained in the release from the zoning committee chaired by Chief Bar. John Ochoga.

Consequent upon the zoning of the APC Benue state chairmanship position to Benue South district, stakeholders of the party in series of meetings, at the instance of the Chairman of the party’s elders forum in the zone, Chief Bar John Ochoga, micro-zoned the chairmanship position to Ogbadibo LGA. This zoning arrangement was reached without protests from any quarters. If not for chicanery or sheer desire to embarrass the party, there is no justifiable ground to embark on a campaign of calumny and hate against a position that the said leaders of the party had all the time and opportunity to challenge at the various meetings that held before the resolution was reached.

It has also become pertinent to put the record straight regarding the meeting that held at the Double K Resort hotel in Otukpo. APC as a party is governed by a constitution and by that legal framework, the only competent persons to authorize any meeting of the party at the zonal level is the zonal or state chairman of the party and neither I nor the state chairman, Comr. Abba Yaro, was aware of the meeting. (We equally made a publication to that effect). It is trite that you cannot place something on nothing and expect it to stand, the meeting itself was improperly convened, it is an illegality that cannot birth any meaningful resolution that will be binding on the party. We want to also commend the stakeholders of the party in the zone for distancing themselves from the meeting. Their actions clearly shows that the majority of our party stakeholders and elders in Zone C are resolute in their resolve to respect the Ochoga committee zoning, a position that was reached after a rigorous democratic process.

Let me also use this opportunity to commend the great leader of the APC in Benue state, Sen. Dr. George Akume, for providing firm leadership to the APC in the state. That our party now commands an overwhelming goodwill across the state, is as a result of his firm and visionary leadership. We appreciate his tolerance for dissenting views. He is indeed a democrat who has been fair and just to every section of the party in the state. It is on record that the APC Benue South has more than once, passed a vote of confidence on the Minister, and I want to assure him, on behalf of Benue South APC leadership, elders, stakeholders and our teaming members, that he will continue to enjoy our support and confidence in his aspiration to lead our great party at the national level.