From Rose Ejembi, Makurdi
Concerned Youths of the All Progressive Congress (APC) have hailed the ruling the national secretariat of the party gave in Oyo State, urged the party leadership to intervene in Benue in the spirit of fairness and justice.
The youths warned that urgent steps be taken to address the imbroglio that has been caused by the emergence of Austin Agada as the state party chairman, stressing that the development, if not addressed, could cause the party to lose the entire elections in the state come 2023.
‘For the party’s victory under Agada, Akume’s candidate is not a success guaranteed in the forthcoming general election,’ they said.
This was contained in a press statement by the APC Concerned Youths read by Paul Edu on Saturday in Makurdi, the state capital.
The youths argued that it was the turn of the Apa/Agatu constituency of the Benue South Senatorial District (Zone C) to produce the Chairman of APC in the state having been neglected since the inception of the party in the country.
‘The political understanding to compensate Apa-Agatu, the Zone C part of the Idoma speaking area of Benue State is born out of years of total relegation, cheat and non-inclusiveness in the Benue politics of the APC since the inception of the Party in the state right from the ACN, CPC which finally metamorphosed to APC, the ruling party,’ the group stated.
The youth group wondered why the state party leadership under Senator George Akume would jettison the abilities of the personalities and echelons of the party in Zone C only to install his preferred candidate whose Local Government Area (Ogbadibo) produced the outgoing state APC Chairman for eight years.
‘Sen George Akume’s preferred candidate has no locus standi because his LGA of Ogbadibo held the same position for two consecutive tenures.
‘For the Apa-Agatu federal constituency of Benue State Sen. George Akume has relegated due to personal reasons has been the melting pot of the party in Zone C when votes from other Local Governments had become scanty in past elections due to heavy presence of the PDP in major local governments of the zone.’
The group called on the National Secretariat, the Buni-led committee as well as all stakeholders to come to the aid of Benue Zone C and let justice prevail in the matter.