Stakeholders of the All Progressives Congress, (APC), Gwer-East Chapter, Benue State has petitioned the Ward Congresses Appeal Panel, to order a cancellation of the purported ward congresses in respect of 12 out of its 14 council wards.
They have also prayed the panel to direct that a fresh conduct of ward congresses in each of the 12 council wards be held as it never held before.
The APC in the state had held its ward congresses on August 1, 2021. The party elders in Gwer East alleged that the congress only held in two wards out of 14, while results were doctored in the remaining 12.
A letter of petition addressed to the chairman of the panel and signed by 11 elders of APC in Gwer-East; Pius Sarki, Hinga Biem, Prof. Uever Jonathan, among others, read in part, “We the undersigned elders and stakeholders hereby write to complain about the failure to conduct ward congresses in 12 of the 14 Council Wards in Gwer East Local Government Area.
“In the 12 council wards in respect of which this complaint is made, congresses were not held but rather false returns were made purporting that certain predetermined individuals had been duly elected into the executive councils of the party at that level of the party hierarchy,” they said.
The elders said congresses only held in two council wards; Akpachayi and Mbabur insisting that in 12 other council wards namely, Mbayom, Mbaiase/Mbakine, Aliade/Mbalav, Ikyonov, Mbakyaan, Ikyogbajir, Ugee, Ikwe, Mbalom, Gbemacha, Shough and Mbasombo, the congresses never held.
READ ALSO: Flood Destroys170 Houses, Displaces 1,000 Persons In Kirfi, Bauchi
They rather alleged that “In these council wards, there was flagrant and blatant violation of the basic procedures for electoral contest. In most cases, the officials delegated by the party to conduct the congresses arrived late at the designated venues and without electoral materials obviously acting out the script of Arc. Asema Achado, one of the aspirants for the House of Representatives Gwer East/Gwer-West Constituency.
“In some cases where the officials showed up with some electoral materials at all, a brazen heist of snatching and destruction of the materials orchestrated by Arc. Achado ensured that no congresses took place.”
They also stated that several party members were beaten to a pulp and physically removed from the venues for daring to challenge or resist the brazen malpractices perpetrated by Mr. Achado.
