Onjeh lauds new Benue APC chair, Omale, commends Alia, NWC

Comrade Daniel Onjeh, the All Progressives Congress (APC) senatorial candidate for Benue South in the 2023 election, has expressed his hearty congratulations to the newly appointed acting chairman of the party in Benue State, Chief Benjamin Omale.

 

In a press statement, Onjeh also commended the Governor of Benue State, Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Alia, for his steadfastness in upholding the course of justice, equity and fairness, while finding lasting solutions to the protracted internal crisis that engulfed the APC in Benue State since the outset of the current political dispensation.

 

The statement also commended the APC National Working Committee led by the National Chairman, Alh. Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje, for taking the auspicious, resolute and timely decision to dissolve the beleaguered State Working Committee (SWC) of the party in Benue State headed by Mr. Augustine Agada, and constituting a Caretaker Committee (CTC) in its place.

 

While wishing Chief Omale a successful tenure in office as the CTC Chairman of the party in Benue State, Onjeh urged him to take swift and proactive steps to reconcile the various cavernous differences within the party in the state in order to restore peace and sanity, and to forge genuine unity in a bid to reposition the party for future political gains. Stressing the need to enthrone justice, equity and fairness in all the affairs of the party in the state, Onjeh tasked the new CTC chair, Omale, to chart a new course for the party, and birth a marked departure from the numerous injustices of the immediate inglorious past.

 

Partly attributing the dissolution of the Austin Agada-led SWC to the petition he had earlier written to the NWC, wherein he tendered proof of the former chairman’s involvement in anti-party activities during the last general elections, Onjeh stated that sacking Agada, although long overdue, was still timely as it afforded the party in the state adequate time to mend fences and fix the numerous cracks within it before the build-up to the 2027 general elections.

 

“You may recall that on 22nd January, 2004, I wrote a 13-page petition to the APC NWC entitled ‘Petition against anti-party activities by the Benue State APC chairman and others targeted at my candidature,” in which I tendered proof of Agada’s involvement in anti-party activities against my candidature during the 2023 senatorial election in Benue South.”

He alleged that Agada worked for his opponent, the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), who is the current Senate Minority Leader, Sen. Abba Moro.

 

He further alleged that Agada sourced funds from APC stalwarts at the state and national levels under the guise of party funding, only to fund opposition parties and opposition candidates with stating that he tendered evidence of how Agada transferred N5m to through a proxy to an opponent’s account with Fidelity Bank Plc.

 

He further stated that “on the eve of the February 25th, 2023 presidential and National Assembly elections, Mr. Agada conspiratorially changed the party agent’s list for Benue South, and replaced it with his list of cronies in order to frustrate me at the polls.”

He lamented that, that happened after he was made to pay N.7m to the party for registering all the party’s agents for the elections in Benue South, and paid more money for the training of the agents. Yet, Agada withheld election-day logistics in Benue South, just to frustrate APC party agents.

 

Onjeh, a former Chairman, Governing Board of PRODA, Enugu, added that when the APC NWC did not respond to his petition after 11 days, in contravention of the constitution of the party, he was compelled to write a reminder to the national leadership on the subject matter.

 

He thanked Governor Alia for upholding the decision of Godwin Abah the Chairman of the APC in Mr. Austin Agada’s Ehaje 1 Ward in Owukpa, Ogbadibo LGA of Benue who led his executives to suspend Mr. Agada following his petition to the NWC a copy of which was made available to the council ward.

 

Onjeh recalled how the governor stood firmly against all odds to preserve justice, ensuring that it was not only served, but was seen by all to be have been served.

 

Onjeh maintained that the resolute stand of the APC NWC in the lingering Benue APC crisis, would usher in a breath of fresh air to the party, as practically the entire structures and organs of the party in the state were hitherto infected by injustice, which was the hallmark of the dissolved SWC of the party.

 

He held that dissolving the entire party executives and rebuilding the party afresh would enhance the political fortunes of the party in future elections.

 

He urged the party’s national leadership to consolidate on this laudable effort of Governor Alia, as the bonafide leader of the party in the state, in line with the tradition of the party and as tenable in other APC-governed states.