Onjeh petitions Benue APC chairman over alleged anti-party activities

Mr Daniel Onjeh, All Progressives Congress (APC) 2023 Senatorial candidate for Benue South, has submitted a petition to the party National Chairman, Alhaji Abdullahi Ganduje, against Mr Austin Agada, the party’s Benue chairman over anti-party activities.

He made this known on Friday in Abuja while addressing newsmen.

The 13-page petition was addressed to Sen. Abdullahi Ganduje, the APC National Chairman.

The petition is titled:” Petition against anti-party activities by the Benue APC Chairman and others, targeted at my candidature”.

Onjeh, also a former Chairman of the Projects Development Institute (PRODA), Enugu, Governing Board, called for the immediate suspension and investigation of Agada over his handling of Benue APC.

He said he wrote ahead of the 2023 general elections to alert the APC national chairman about the shoddy activities in Benue APC.

This, he said was especially with regards to handling of the party’s polling unit agents for the 2023 Presidential and National Assembly elections in Benue South by the state chairman.

Onjeh said he also emphasised how the development constituted an imminent threat to his senatorial ambition.

He alleged that the Benue APC chairman and his acolytes compromised the 2023 senatorial election in Benue South in favour of the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

“This explains why in spite of winning three out of the four House of Representatives seats in Benue South during the last general elections.

“The APC still lost both the senatorial and the presidential elections to the opposition.

“If you care to research the history of elections in Nigeria, you will discover that it has never happened in any other elections, aside the 2023 general elections in Benue South.

“Where a particular party won three out of four House of Representatives seat in a senatorial district and yet lost the senate,” the APC chieftain said.

Onjeh also alleged that among Agada’s anti-party activities was sourcing funds from APC stalwarts at the state and national levels under the guise of party funding, only to fund opposition parties and candidates.

He said he attached the alleged receipts of financial transactions he stumbled on, confirming cash contributions Agada made to the campaign of an opposition candidate through a proxy to the petition.

“Also attached, was the certified bank statement for the period of the aforementioned transactions, showing the cash credits to proxy account,” he said.

Onjeh further alleged it was easy for Agada and his cohorts to perpetrate the electoral fraud against him during the last general elections because they used compromised agents in Benue South.

This, he said was the reason the APC equally lost the presidential election in the senatorial district.

The APC chieftain stated that it became imperative for him to write the petition in order to sanitise the party in Benue South and to serve as a deterrent to the APC Benue chairman and his cohorts.

He expressed optimism that the petition would also serve as a deterrent to others who may contemplate perpetrating anti-party activities in the future.

He further stated that he sought to consolidate the party’s grip on power in Benue, as well as to end all the crises rocking the chapter.

Onjeh also alleged all the crises in Benue APC were traceable to the anti-party activities of its leadership.

“Copied in the petition was President Bola Tinubu, Gov. of Benue, Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Alia, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Sen. George Akume, INEC National Chairman and Agada.

“Finally, I seek to encourage all APC members in Benue to repose new confidence in the leadership of the party, understand Ganduje,” Onjeh said.