..allege fraud, diversion of materials to hotel

By Peter Duru, Makurdi

Two aspirants in the All Progressives Congress, APC, House of Representatives primary election for Otukpo/Ohimini Federal Constituency of Benue State have rejected the outcome of the exercise, alleging that no valid primary election took place in the constituency.

The aggrieved aspirants, former Information Commissioner, Lawrence Onoja Jnr and Andrew Abu, accused party leaders of hijacking electoral materials, and conducting what they described as “hotel primaries,” and imposing a preferred candidate on the people.

Speaking while reacting to the outcome of Saturday’s exercise and after filing his appeal, Onoja Jnr alleged that electoral materials meant for the exercise never reached the designated venues in Otukpo and Ohimini Local Government Areas, LGAs.

According to him, “I was awarded 925 votes whereas in my ward alone, since the materials did not come, in the mock activities that took place I got 975 votes. I got far above that in my own ward alone.”

The former Commissioner who alleged that votes were alloted the incumbent, Mrs. Blessing Onuh said “from the results, she got 17,000 votes. But if you go by the records, the registered APC members for both Otukpo and Ohimini LGAs are just a bit above 15,000. So how did she score 17,000 votes?

“So I am here to say categorically that there was no election whatsoever, no primaries whatsoever took place in Otukpo and Ohimini. The materials never came to the constituency. We are here not out of bitterness but to make sure that the internal democratic processes within our party are adhered to. I say this because I have been a party man for 27 years, and I have been in APC from inception.”

Onoja Jnr further argued that the constituency had long maintained a rotational arrangement between Otukpo and Ohimini for the House of Representatives seat, stressing that the arrangement should be respected.

“The electorate are very angry. There was even a protest in Otukpo that it is Ohimini’s turn this time around. So what we as a people rotate amongst ourselves, I don’t think it is right to shortchange Ohimini as a whole,” he said.

He disclosed that he had already submitted a petition to the party leadership and expressed hope that justice would prevail noting that “it is a gross violation of both APC and even INEC regulations. You cannot just change the venue of an election without informing people. You cannot deny people their right to vote.

“Taking it to a private place and conducting hotel primaries means whatever results they announced are null and void as far as we are concerned,” Onoja Jnr added.

He called on the APC national leadership to intervene urgently in the matter, citing instances where zoning arrangements had been respected in other parts of the country. “If zoning is used elsewhere, why shouldn’t it be respected here too?” he queried.

Also speaking, another aspirant, Andrew Abu, described the conduct and outcome of the primary election as unacceptable. “I think what happened on Saturday was an aberration of democracy. Some persons feel they are too powerful and can take materials to private hotels and abscond with them after our supporters stood from morning till evening waiting,” Abu alleged.

He appealed to the APC national leadership and President Bola Tinubu to intervene, warning that the party risked losing support ahead of the general election if such actions continued.

“We are peaceful people. We have lived together for a long time with an understanding of rotating this House of Representatives seat between Otukpo and Ohimini. But for someone in the middle of the afternoon to hijack the election, I think it is not good for democracy and especially not good for APC,” he said.

Abu warned that imposing candidates through alleged manipulation of the process could create disaffection among party loyalists at the grassroots. “You decide to hijack materials and cut short the destiny of a lot of people because of one certain person somewhere. That will be rejected at all costs.

“We have a general election ahead of us. If the party is not careful with the actions it is taking at the grassroots, the party may suffer serious defeat in the coming election,” he cautioned.

He maintained that no legitimate primary election took place in the constituency saying, “as far as we are concerned in Otukpo/Ohimini, there was no election. What happened was selection, and it was an illegal selection.”