Ahead of the local council election in Benue State billed for June 3, there have continued to be wild cries over allegations of imposition and other malpractices orchestrated by the leadership of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state.
Latest of this accusation at the weekend was when an aspirant for the chairmanship position for Ogbadibo Local Government Area, Friday Iwodi Adogo, in an exclusive interview in Makurdi, took a swipe at the entire process of screening of aspirants even as he directly accused the party’s state chairman, Abba Yaro, of orchestrating an imposition agenda.
Adogo, who expressed concern over the ugly development, revealed that certain aspirants were given clearance even before the results of the screening conducted on aspirants were published as required by the part guidelines governing the conduct of polls.
He particularly accused the party chairman of using his vantage position to corner the chairmanship ticket in Ogbadibo to his council ward, which according to him, was not in the spirit of federal character and democratic tenets.
The aspirant, who expressed lost of confidence in the John Ochoga-led screening committee, called on the party leadership at the national level to wade into the issue, which according to him, allowing such to continue will only lower the chances of the party during the council elections.
“I have completely lost confidence in the leadership of this party as well as the screening committee. It is unfortunate that the APC, which rode unto power on a dose of the people’s goodwill, will turn around to become a hub of imposition.
“We did a screening and what the guidelines stipulate is that the results of the screening would have been published and those cleared issued certificate, but to my outmost surprise, some aspirants are being issued clearance certificate by these people without recourse to the party’s guidelines.
“That is exactly what happened in my local government where one James Akola has already been given a clearance even when the result of the screening is yet to be displayed. It is unfortunate and I call on our leaders at higher levels to wade in and stop this party from an eminent defeat due to some of this actions,” he said.
Adogo, who said efforts to get the Yaro for an explanation on the matter, however called on his teaming supporters to remain calm, saying he was going to explore every means within the provisions of the party to get justice over the issue.
Investigations by this medium have shown that the selection process has been marred by irregularities owing to massive imposition of candidates by a powerful cabal in the party.
Findings have indicated further that people who never indicated interest in running and were subsequently made sole administrators have suddenly wangled their ways into the race, courtesy of this powerful bloc, a development that has continued to cause ripples within the ranks of the party.
Now that the countdown for the election has begun, opinions are rift that if the issue is not quickly resolved, the party may be heading into the poll divided, a situation observers say may not go well for it success at the poll.
