WHY THEY WANT TO DESTROY YOUNG ALHAJI O ye members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Idoma land (Zone C), “… we should no longer be children tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting.” Ephesians 4:14 We, “… should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind.” Ephesians 4:17, rather, “let us walk circumspectly this time, not as fools but wise.” Ephesians 5:15 What is happening in the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Benue State is a repeat of the plot by Sen. George Akume to perpetually keep the Idoma nation under political bondage using the same foot soldiers that he had used in 2007 during the PDP Gubernatorial Primary election, when he was the Governor of Benue State, with a few new political mercenaries from Zone C. In 2007, he had sponsored Idoma sons against themselves, and promised each one of them to make him the Governor of Benue State after him, while the goal was to ensure that no Idoma man got close to the Government House. Hence the record breaking show of shame and betrayal, with an aspirant donating his votes to another after the votes had been counted and declared. Sen. George Akume, then Governor had sponsored Comrade Abba Morro, Hon. Ralph Igbago and Hon. Ogiri Ajene against themselves and Chief Mike Onoja. Now, in 2014, exactly seven years after 2007, the team of Sen. George Akume, Chief Audu Ogbe, Engr. Benson Abounu and Hon. Ralph Igbago with new entrants in the persons of Hon. Nelson Alapa and Abba Yaro are set for a repeat performance of the humiliation of the Idoma nation in the All Progressives Congress (APC). And to achieve the set goal, every effort has been made, including working outside the party guidelines with blatant disregard, to render Young Alhaji politically impotent. It started with the plot to expel Youg Alhaji from the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), by some so- called Stake holders even when the party had ceased to exist, then the purported announcement of his expulsion from the All Progressives Congress (APC) which is yet to have registered members in Benue State. And recently, at the so-called inaugural meeting of the recently imposed State Harmonization Committee as constituted by Sen. George Akume and ratified by one Gen. Aboki from the National Secretariat, on Sunday 26th January, 2014 in Makurdi, Abba Yaro moved for Young Alhaji’s removal from the committee, while Engr. Benson Abounu seconded with Hon. Nelson Alapa supporting the motion. The meeting was chaired by Prof. Saror, while Barr.T. Tekema to whom Sen. George Akume had handed over the Chairmanship of the State Harmonization Committee on inauguration was a floor member. Gen. Aboki had in furtherance of the plot by Sen. George Akume and his group, on Sunday 12th January, 2014 announced the coup called the Inauguration of the Benue State Harmonization Committee, and named Sen. George Akume as the Chairman of the State Harmonization Committee, and Sen. George Akume, there and then handed over to Barr. T. Tekema, an illegal member of the Committee, who was at no time a member of the National Exco of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), as claimed to smuggle him into the committee, to act on his behalf as Chairman, because of his national engagement as a Senator and minority leader of the National Assembly. What happened on that day was a kangaroo arrangement and replication of how his cohorts contributed their votes to Gabriel Suswan in 2007 during the PDP Benue State gubernatorial primaries, after the votes had been counted and announced. Our conspirator brothers, who in Idoma politics do not have the kind of clout that they arrogate to themselves before people outside Benue South Senatorial District, are the political slave catchers for their political slave master, who from his antecedents do not have any iota of respect for the average Idoma person. He would rather that the Idoma people play second fiddle. They have like Joseph’s brothers in the bible resolved to sell Young Alhaji to Sen. George Akume by all means, hence their pernicious system of party administration. And looking at the antecedents of these people, it will be seen that they lack character. Hon. Nelson Alapa could not produce a councillorship candidate in his ward in the last election, because they had sold out the slot to the PDP, whose candidate emerged unopposed in the Local Government Council election. Hon. Ralph Igbago’s collection of money from the PDP and decamping in the last elections is an open secret. He also withdrew the councillorship candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) from the election to pave way for the PDP candidate who won. Engr. Benson Abounu had intimidated, harassed and rigged out other aspirants from Okete ward during the November 2012 ACN Council election primaries to impose his nephew, Alechenu Abounu, as a councillorship candidate on the people. But he could not deliver him in the election because some party members disagreed and fought him to a standstill. It was in the same manner that he imposed the ACN Vice-Chairmanship candidate from his ward on the party, and they also lost the election. Chief Audu Ogbe, who today is one of the APC Chieftains from Benue State and has never at any point convened any meeting of the party in Zone C, and never participated in the last elections and campaigns in the Zone. He should come and tell us where he voted; especially that he has never delivered even his polling unit to the opposition. He has watched and encouraged the crisis in Zone C. It is such that there is also another scheme to remove Young Alhaji as a Deputy to Professor Ugbah, should the case at the Supreme Court be successful. Should we the Idoma people therefore sit and watch them destroy Young Alhaji for their selfish interest? For all these years, Young Alhaji has been the only Idoma man that has stood up to the PDP which had tormented the people so much that their thugs walked the streets tall maiming and killing without challenge. He and he alone changed all that, and today a part of the same sponsors then have emerged in the opposition trying to perpetrate the PDP way of doing things, and to also destroy their long standing antagonist from within. And the APC National Secretariat has watched the development in Benue State APC, as if the party Constitution and guidelines do not amount to anything. We are indeed forced to begin to wonder whether the democratic slogans being bandied around by the APC is anything to go by, when they at the National Secretariat have watched the blatant breach and disregard of its constitution and party guidelines, by the same people who ran from the PDP for reason of the same act that they perpetrate today in the APC. What we have so far witnessed in the APC in Benue State is a spate of over flowing lava of injustice, inequity, unfairness and blatant disregard of the constitution of the party and its guidelines. The so-called leaders are sanctimonious without sanctity. It is a case of PDP in APC, because the operators and the style are the same carried over from the PDP. It has therefore become pertinent at this juncture to ask ourselves certain questions, and hope that the APC National Secretariat would wake up from its slumber. Can the APC in line with its constitution and manifesto be able to salvage Nigeria, when it can not ensure internal democracy and strict compliance to its party constitution? Can the APC depart from the old ways of doing politics as claimed? - Articles 9&20. Does APC really stand for rule of law and require all members of the party to be above reproach and impunity?- Article9(9.2). Is APC really a party of the masses, and not a party of Godfathers and money bags? – Article 20 & 22. Why has the party allowed for the kind of imposition that has been perpetrated in almost everything done so far in Benue State APC? –Article 7(viii), (ix), (ixi) & 20. The Idoma people must wake up now or else we may never have future in the coming dispensation, because our brothers are already trading us off for their personal and selfish interest. The Idoma youth and women must awake and take our destiny in our hands. If the APC can not ensure compliance with its constitution and party guidelines, and allows for Godfathers, Money bags and imposition, then how different is it from the PDP? Let us shine our eyes fast and see and know where we are headed. We should be careful of how Ribadu was sold out to Goodluck in the last Presidential election. We are at a political cross road now, whether to go with APC or find our way. Ben Benson IDOMA CHANGE INITIATIVE
Posted on: Fri, 31 Jan 2014 01:58:22 +0000
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