Benue: Controversy trails emergence of APC new chairman
Controversy has continued to trail the congress of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Benue State which at the weekend, led to the emergence of its state executives, headed by Comrade Abba Yaro.
The congress was boycotted by aggrieved members of the party.
The election held between Wednesday and Friday at the Eunice Resort, along Naka road in Makurdi amidst disagreement by some party members who described the exercise as non transparent.
Speaking with Daily Trust, a former gubernatorial aspirant in the 2011 general election under the platform of defunct, Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), ShimaTaver Atim-Atedze said that the outcome of the election was not desirable and that it lacked transparency.
He expressed disgust at the manner the election was conducted, adding that the congress must be challenged as it is expected of a party which intend to wrestle power from PDP in 2015 to live above aboard.
Atim-Atedze further accused the Senate minority leader, George Akume of running the party as his personal estate by drawing a pre-determined list of candidates to occupy various positions and ordering delegates to vote for his preferred ones.
A respondent who claimed to be a national officer of the party, Baba Agan told our correspondent that what happened during the process of voting was quite funny.
Meanwhile, when contacted, Yaro, the new party chairman in the state said he was attending series of meetings and would speak on the matter later.
Tthe party since its inception in the state has remained steeped in controversies over a tussle between the senate minority leader and former governor of the state, George Akume and defunct ACN gubernatorial candidate in the state, Alhaji Usman Abubakar popularly known as ‘Young Alhaji’.
Earlier, Young Alhaji had distanced himself from the congress. He told Daily Trust on telephone that he was not going to be part of the exercise because there were no meeting point among members of the party.