From Austine Tule, Makurdi
Former Executive Secretary, Benue State Emergency Management Agency and a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr. Boniface Ortese has called for the immediate suspension of the Party’s state chairman, Comrade Abba Yaro and the organising secretary, Mark Hanmation over their roles that led to the poor outing of the party during the 2019 general elections in Benue.
In a complaint letter addressed to the National Chairman of the party, Comrade Adams Oshiomohle, a copy of which was made available to the AUTHORITY in Makurdi, Ortese alleged that the duo had tinkered with the list of elected executives of the party during its congresses held in 2018 starting from the ward, local government up to the state level.
According to the APC chieftain, due to I’ll motives of the State chairman Abba Yaro and Mr. Hanmation, no report of the congress was prepared and submitted to the APC National Secretariat and could not be found at the state Secretariat in Benue state.
“When it was the time of the primaries, the state chairman and the Organizing Secretary had their list different from the exco that were elected during the 2018 congress. At the end of the whole exercise, the popular yearnings of men and women of APC members were short-changed through a black market arrangement by the state chairman and his organising secretary.”
He pointed out that while sales of forms for state houses of Assembly was done at various state Secretariats of the party, in Benue state, the whole process was carried out under what he referred to as ‘behind screen’ by Yaro and Hanmation.
The petitioner further alleged that Benue APC Secretariat was run as a secret organisation by the duo who never disclosed whether any form of support was given to the party to prosecute the election nor do they care to brief stakeholders till date.
While attributing APC’s woeful loss of election to the double standard by the activities of some its members especially the state organising secretary who was allegedly divulging the party’s strategies to the PDP and allegedly collected millions of naira for the purpose of betraying APC at the polls, he therefore, called on the APC National Secretariat to set up a committee to investigate them in order to bring back the loss of hope which is the current issue in the minds of APC members in the state.
When contacted, Benue State Publicity Secretary of the APC, James Ornguga, declined comments. He told the AUTHORITY on telephone that the party was yet to be served the said Petition.
