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From Rose Ejembi, Makurdi
Governorship contender of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Benue, Senator Barnabas Gemade has dispelled insinuations in some quarters that he is conniving with the state Governor, Samuel Ortom to ensure the disqualification of Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Alia as the gubernatorial flag bearer of the party.
Gemade further noted that those who were blackmailing him on the grounds of his insistence that the due process be followed in the election and emergence of the flag bearer of the party were enemies of the party.
It would be recalled that controversy over the recent governorship primaries of the APC in Benue which resulted in the declaration of a rerun election in 11 local government areas of the state is still being legally challenged by some of the aspirants who felt shortchanged during the exercise including Gemade.
This development, it was gathered, had made some supporters of Fr. Alia to take to the social media to insinuate that those aspirants who instituted a legal tussle against the said primaries were doing so with the support of Governor Ortom.
But in a swift reaction through his Media aide, Tersoo Dzuah, Senator Gemade insisted that as a party man, all he wanted to be done is nothing but the right thing.
“He (Gemade) said the processes leading to the primary elections violated the electoral act, INEC guidelines, the party’s Constitution and advised that the proper thing should be done. This cannot be a base to say, Senator Gemade has connived with Governor Ortom to disqualify Fr. Hyacinth Alia.
“Sen.Gemade as a party man is only out to guide the party to do the right thing and how can he disqualify a candidate who in all sense of reasons and lawfully is not a candidate?
“Owing to what Senator Gemade has done in the APC, I am surprised as to why anyone or a group of people would dismiss valid concerns raised by aspirants and the Governorship Appeal Panel’s decision to accuse my principal of working against the party’s interest by raising legal concerns in line with extant electoral laws and guidelines that anyone could verify.”
The statement added that Gemade as a party man believes in due process and truth, and had already congratulated the APC Presidential standard bearer, Senator Bola Tinubu who emerged through the recommended and transparent process, while also assuring him of his support to win Benue state at the general elections.
“So, it is disgusting how the author of the said blackmail will say, My principal, is doing anti-party activities,” Dzuah said.
He described the claim that his principal was conspiring with PDP’s Ortom to disqualify Fr. Alia through a lawsuit filed by the state’s ruling party as funny, and should be waved aside.
“Let me ask, is the author of the blackmail blind to see that all the APC Governorship aspirants are defendants in the said suit? This is a display of ignorance and a total lack of knowledge.
“If the leader of the party in Benue to which the blame is supposed to be apportioned to had played politics by the rules of the game, he should have saved APC from the predicaments it has found itself now.
“I therefore, urge all and sundry to disregard any attempt by mischief makers to drag my principal into what the Benue APC has caused themselves. It is common knowledge that the problem of the state’s Governorship primary election was characterized by irregularities, and other political parties interested in winning the election in 2023 are aware of the issues.”
