Rose Ejembi, Makurdi
After a long wait, the All Progressives Congress (APC), in Benue State, on Saturday, finally named the running mate to its governorship candidate, Barr. Emmanuel Jime ahead of the 2019 general elections.
He is Chief Sam Ode, a former minister of State for Niger Delta.
Ode was finally selected from among five names after much political horse-trading within the party especially among stakeholders from the Benue South Senatorial District.
In a telephone chat with newsmen, the acting State Publicity Secretary of the party, James Ornguga, disclosed that the former minister became the choice of the party as Jime’s running mate because he is widely accepted by the people.
Ornguga explained further that the party had already sent Ode’s name including all necessary and relevant documents to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
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He said by that step, the party has been able to meet the Dec 2nd deadline set by the umpire body for submission of names of candidates of political parties.
“Like I said before, the task of selecting running mate for our candidate were given to party stakeholders and they initiated the process for selecting a running mate for our governorship candidate.
“However, the process took some little time because they wanted to come out with a running mate that would be acceptable to all the party members and the entire state. Out of the over seven names submitted, Sam Ode was picked and we thank God for everything because there was no crisis through the selection process.
“With this development, we have put all the speculations and rumour to rest and Benue APC is now set for victory. Once the campaign council is announced, we will commence campaign in earnest across every nook and cranny of the state,” Ornguga said.
The APC spokesman urged the party faithfuls to remain resolute and keep faith with the party, never to be distracted by the antics of the opposition PDP.
It would be recalled that an insider in the party had hinted our correspondent sometimes last week that Sam Ode would be announced as Jime’s running if the Commandant of Nigerian Peace Corps, Amb. Dickson Akor who was also picked for the job is not able to clear himself from the Police and the DSS.
