Recall that two days ago, specifically Thursday, 26th May, 2022, Senator Gemade cautioned the Benue state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) of the risk of not producing a candidate for the 2023 governorship elections by jettisoning the indirect mode of primaries as issued by the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party and adopting the Direct mode on the day of the scheduled primaries which was Thursday, 26th May, 2022.
It’s regrettable that inspite of the patriotic caution as a faithful party man who wishes the party well, the APC 2022 governorship primary election committee headed by Dr. Peter Ojie went ahead to conduct what can best be described as a sham primary election that has produced a bogus result.
In the said primaries which commenced on Friday, 27th May, 2022 and which results were announced on the 28th May, 2022, Sen. Gemade observed the following;
*There were no guidelines issued for the primaries.
*There were no party membership registers at any of the ward venues.
*The electoral officers purportedly sat by the party secretariat, never moved to any of the venues throughout the state, party members who gathered there, gathered in vain.
*The so called results announced on Saturday, 28th May, 2022, were simply fabricated, and allocated to aspirants by some election panel members and state executive committee members.
Besides the above, the conduct of the primaries outside the stipulated schedule of the NWC timetable and the Direct mode was no longer available to the party. The conduct of the said primaries is therefore, a violation of the Electoral Act as well as INEC guidelines for the conduct of the 2023 elections.
Therefore, Senator Gemade hereby rejects in totality the sham called Direct Primaries for selecting a candidate for the party in Benue state.
He added that the primitive allocation of votes to aspirants for the purpose of disgracing them before Benue populace is a very shameful act of indiscretion, and anyone who seeks to disgrace their esteemed gubernatorial aspirants actually ends up disgracing themselves before the general public, he maintained.
Comr. Solo Dzuah,
Media and Publicity Aide to Sen. Gemade
May 29, 2022.
