An APC support group in Benue, APC League of Voters, has called on the relevant party organs to take Senator Barnabas Gemade through the disciplinary process with a view to sanctioning him for allegedly sabotaging the party in the state through indulging in anti-party activities.
Gemade is one of the governorship aspirants who contested the state governorship primary election on the platform of the APC for the 2023 general elections.
After he lost in the primary poll, he went to court against the party, challenging the outcome of the gubernatorial primary elections.
The group, in a statement signed by its leaders and secretary, Orduen Aernan and Bem Adoor, respectively, said it had reviewed the behaviour and activities of Sen. Barnabas Gemade and had come to the conclusion that he was rather a grave threat and a disaster to APC in Benue state.
They noted that they would be aiding mischief against their party, the APC, if they ignored and watched helplessly how he indulged in devious antics to ground the party.
The statement read in part, “To begin with, if there is anyone who has contributed nothing to building the APC in Benue state but has unjustifiably profited enormously from the party, that person is Barnabas Gemade.”
The group recalled that Gemade joined the APC in 2015, on the day senatorial primary polls of the party were ongoing.
“This means that he is an interloper who found his way into the party fold when nomination forms had been sold and closed.
“The implication is that the screening of party candidates had already been done and concluded, and the final list of successful and eligible candidates for election duly published before Barnabas Gemade curiously wriggled his way in when the most bizarre happened! He got a “waiver”, participated in the primary poll, and was announced the winner.
“He would later be elected into the red chambers of the national assembly. But after 4 years, the people of Benue North-East senatorial district rated his performances as below average and denied him a ticket in 2019.
“Gemade quickly abandoned our great party, the APC, and jumped over to SDP…But when another election year was nigh, he again abandoned SDP and returned to APC where he contested for the 2023 gubernatorial ticket of the party but lost.”
The group regretted that “against all pleas from respected personalities in Tivland, Gemade was not deterred from dragging the party and the candidate through the judicial process up to the apex court.
“Since then, Gemade has both openly and discreetly continued to indulge in one anti-party activity or another in a manner that is characteristic of a bad looser.”
They said results of the last presidential and national assemblies elections, especially in his Mbawar ward of Konshisha LGA, further exposed how he and his team ensured that APC was defeated in their wards and in some polling units in their domains.
“We consider this as another way of sabotaging the party and therefore, we make bold to call for immediate disciplinary measures against Barnabas Gemade who is bent on crippling the party in the state,” they said.
When contacted, the Chairman of APC in Benue state, Austin Agada noted that the League of Voters was not the only APC group that had made such allegations of anti party activities agsinst Senator Gemade.
Agada said the allegations of Gemade and some other persons in the party engaging in anti-party activities had also been raised by other groups and individuals.
He assured the group that its claims would be investigated and everybody that had been involved in anti-party activities would not go unpunished “because for us as a party, we have worked so hard and we don’t know why anybody will be doing anti party activity at this stage.
“But personally, I want to believe that the allegation is not true but it will be most unfortunate for him to be involved in that but we are going to investigate everybody that has been pointed to be involved in one anti-party activity or another and if found guilty, none will go unpunished.
“Nobody is above the party. The party must always stand for what is true and just because of tomorrow,” Agada said.
Stay ahead with the latest updates! Join The ConclaveNG on WhatsApp and Telegram for real-time news alerts, breaking stories, and exclusive content delivered straight to your phone. Don’t miss a headline — subscribe now!
