Rose Ejembi, Makurdi
The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Benue State has said that it will not stop potential aspirants from the party who wish to vie for positions in the proposed local government election in the state billed to hold on November 30 this year.
Rising from the stakeholders meeting organised by the Benue State Independent Electoral Commission (BSIEC) on Monday, the APC, in a statement signed by its acting Publicity Secretary, James Ornguga, said it would be unfair to stop members of the party who had gone far in their consultations from participating in the election.
“Though the dominant tone at the stakeholders meeting suggested that members of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) have foreknowledge of the election and its possible outcomes, our members have gone far in their consultations and it would be unfair stopping them from pursuing their ambitions on our platform at this moment.
“The party is however, suspiciously perturbed with the hasty nature of the electoral guidelines which seem to have been projected for less than three months and preconditioned to favour a certain group.
“For instance, while the aspirants are just accessing copies of the electoral guidelines and timetable today, campaigns are to begin immediately tomorrow, with primaries expected to hold within a very short time, like students union elections.
“Besides, there is an indiscriminate use of both “aspirants” and “candidates” on the activity log contained in the issued guidelines, making it difficult for parties to differentiate the two, except returning to the commission to seek clarifications.
The APC assured its members that it has no confidence in the process, despite the declaration by new BSIEC chairman boasting of his own quantum of integrity.
“The PDP administration of Governor Samuel Ortom is not a good keeper of promises, hence, trusting an agency under it would amount to building castles in the air,” the statement read in part.