Panic In APC Over Benue Governorship Seat

The National Working Committee, NWC of the All Progressives Congress, APC has held two emergency meetings within four days in a desperate bid to resolve the crisis rocking the Benue State chapter of the party. The problem, a complex legal web is currently threatening to un¬seat the state governor, Dr Samuel Ortom.

It was gathered that because of the dispute on who the authentic governorship candidate of APC was in the recently concluded general elections and the court case instituted by Hon Emmanuel Jime who was in January adopted as the party’s consensus candidate, Senator JKN Waku, and others at the Federal High Court, Abuja in suit number FHC/ ABJ/ CS/1057/14, the PDP had gone to the Benue governorship election petition tribunal in Makurdi to claim that APC had no candidate at the time of the election and as such, its candidate Terhemen Tarzoor be declared winner of the poll.

The PDP through its governorship candidate, Hon. Terhemen Tarzoor in its pe¬tition number EPT/BEN/ GOV/01/26 is asking that it be declared winner of the guber poll with a total of 313,878 votes. The request is based on their claim that APC, though scored the highest 422,932 votes, did not have an authen¬tic candidate for the election.

Faced with the danger of losing the party’s electoral victory to the PDP, the APC’s National Legal Adviser, Dr Muiz Banire was said to have last week drawn the attention of the party’s leadership to the imbroglio through a let-ter addressed to its National Chairman, Chief John Odigie- Oyegun.

According to the letter dat¬ed June 17, 2015 and entitled- “Re: Legal tussle over the governorship seat of Benue State: a call for urgent action,” a copy of which was sighted in Oyegun’s office at the party’s headquarters in Abuja, the le¬gal adviser urged the leader¬ship to step into the matter be¬fore the party is embarrassed by a judicial pronouncement.

“Please recall that after the emergence of Dr. Ortom Sam¬uel Ioraer as the governorship candidate of our party for the April 11, 2015, governorship election in Benue State, other governorship candidates who felt aggrieved by his emer¬gence, protested against the alleged non-compliance with the provisions of our party’s constitution and guidelines for the conduct of primaries. Eventually, four of the gov¬ernorship candidates jointly commenced an action in Suit No: FHC/ABJ/CS/1057/2014 by which they challenged the process of the emergence of Dr. Ortom Samuel Ioraer as the party’s governorship can¬didate. This suit is still pend¬ing in court.

“It is equally imperative to draw your attention to the fact that, upon the conclusion of the election, the PDP candidate filed a petition challenging the election of Dr. Ortom Samuel Ioraer. Part of the grounds of the petition for challenging the election is that the process, which produced Dr. Ortom Samuel Ioraer as our party’s candidate, breached the provi¬sions of the Electoral Act. To substantiate his petition, the petitioner is also relying on several documents which the Plaintiffs in Suit No: FHC/ ABJ/CS/1057/2014 pleaded in support of their case.

“Mr. Chairman, there are grave issues which are at the root of this impasse which I have constrained myself from revealing through this medium but which I shall share when the leaders of the party are gathered. Suffice however to say that with the present happenings in the various courts, we may be endangering that seat in favour of the opposition People’s Democratic Party.

“It is in the light of the fore¬going that I humbly advise that the party considers setting up a high-powered panel to in¬tervene in this Benue State im¬passe urgently with a view to reconciling all the parties and saving our party from public opprobrium,” the letter read in part.

One of the APC leaders from Benue, Tor Gowon Yaro had earlier written a letter to the National Leader of APC, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu intimating him about the legal moves that could rob the party of the Benue governorship seat if urgent interventions are not made.

The letter written by Yaro urged Tinubu to rally other party leaders and abort an imminent unpleasant judicial pronouncement that will em¬barrass the party.

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