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From Scholastica Onyeka, Makurdi
A political group under the auspices of APC League of Voters, Benue state, has alleged that Sen. Barnabas Gemade is sabotaging the All Progressives Congress, (APC), in Benue state, demanding that he be punished.
Gemade is one of the governorship aspirants who contested primaries on the platform of the APC for the 2023 general elections. After he lost in the primaries, Gemade had gone to court against the party challenging the outcome of the gubernatorial primary elections.
The group, in a statement signed by its leader and secretary, Orduen Aernan and Bem Adoor respectively, said they have reviewed the behaviour of Sen. Barnanas Gemade and have come to the conclusion that he is rather a grave threat and a disaster to the APC.
They noted that they will be aiding mischief against their party, the APC, if they ignore and watch helplessly how he indulges in devious antics to ground the party.
The statement read in part, “To begin with, if there is anyone who has contributed nothing to building the APC in Benue state but has unjustifiably profited enormously from the party, that person is Barnabas Gemade.”
The group recalled that Gemade joined the APC in 2015, on the day senatorial primaries of the party were ongoing. “This means that he is an interloper who found his way into the party fold when nomination forms had been sold and closed.
“The implication is that the screening of party candidates had already been done and concluded, and the final list of successful and eligible candidates for election duly published before Barnabas Gemade curiously wriggled his way when the most bizarre happened. IowillHe got a “waiver”, participated in the primaries, and was announced the winner.
“He would later be elected into the red chambers of the national assembly. But after 4 years, the people of Benue North-East senatorial district rated his performances as below average and denied him a ticket in 2019.
“Gemade quickly abandoned our great party, the APC, and jumped over to SDP…But when another election year was nigh, he again abandoned SDP and returned to APC where he contested for the 2023 gubernatorial ticket of the party but lost.
The geoup regretted that “against all pleas from respected personalities in Tivland, Gemade was not deterred him from dragging the party and the candidate through the judicial process up to the apex court.”
“Since then, Gemade has both openly and discreetly continued to indulge in one anti-party activity or the other in a manner that is characteristic of a bad looser.”
They said results of the last Presidential and national assemblies elections, especially in his Mbawar ward of Konshisha LGA, further exposed how he and his team ensured that APC was defeated in their wards and in some polling units in their domains.
“We consider this as another way of sabotaging the party and therefore, we make bold to call for immediate disciplinary measures against Barnabas Gemade who is bent on crippling the party in the state,” they said.
When contacted, the Chairman of APC in Benue state, Austin Agada noted that the League of Voters is not the only APC group that has made such allegations of anti party activities on Senator Gemade.
Agada said the allegations of Gemade and some other persons in the party engaging in anti party activities have also been raised by other groups and individuals.
He assured that their claims will be investigated and everybody that has been involved in anti party activities will not go unpunished “because for us as a party, we have worked so hard and we don’t know why anybody will be doing anti party activity at this stage.
“But personally, I want to believe that the allegation is not true but it will be most unfortunate for him to be involved in that but we are going to investigate everybody that has been pointed to be involved in one anti party activity or another and if found guilty, none will go unpunished.
“Nobody is above the party. The party must always stand for what is true and just because of tomorrow,” Agada said.
