From Rose Ejembi and Scholastica Onyeka, Makurdi
Ahead of 2023 general elections, the All Progressive Congress, APC, in Benue state has constituted a campaign council for the Alia/Ode 2023 campaign organization with the names of their three prominent members and strong contenders conspicuously missing.
The three members including former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mike Aondakaa, SAN, Engr Barnabas Gemade and Professor Terhemba Shija, had gone to court to contest the emergence of the party’s candidate, Fr. Hyacinth Alia.
Speaking to our correspondent on phone, in Makurdi, Thursday, the state Organizing Secretary, APC, James Ornguga, explained that the party had to remove their names from the campaign council for obvious reasons.
According to him, “The first idea we had was to incorporate all of them that contested against Fr Alia in the campaign council but on a second thought, we looked at the three of them that have taken Alia to court which means that they are not in agreement with his emergence yet.
“So putting them on Alia’s campaign council is not good enough because they might decide to come out and distance themselves from the list and it will make a mockery of what we are doing.
“We still have them as respected party elders. We consider them as our members still but as for this, since they are still contesting the outcome of that primaries that produced the man for whom the campaign council is being formed, we say let’s not include them. So that was the consideration.”
He noted that those who do not have issues, like Stephen Lawani, are part of the team adding “But we singled these three out because they have pending cases in court against the candidate.
“It means they have not accepted the reality that the man won. So it will be an insult to bring them on the team,” he said.
Ornguga who noted that the party will inaugurate the campaign council on the 14 the October, 2022 said “On the 14th, we are unveiling the deputy governor and inaugurating the entire campaign team and we plan to flag off the campaign immediately.”
The campaign council has Senator George Akume as the Chairman, Chief Audu Ogbe as the deputy chairman as well as Paul Biam and Amb. Philip Eche as Secretary and deputy Secretary respectively.
The council also has Rev. Fredrick Ikyaan as Director General, Jacob Obande as deputy director general, and also state party chairman, Austin Agada, Sen. Tilley Gyado, Former deputy governor Stephen Lawani, Patricia Kupchi, Kate Nomhwange among others as members.
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