Governorship aspirants on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Benue State have described the pruning process embarked on by the party as faulty, unfair and capable of denyig the party victory at the forthcoming general elections in the state if allowed to stand.
The aspirants also faulted the inability of the leadership of the party in Benue State to draw up guidelines for the exercise for the Local Governments of Kwande, Ushongo, Vandeikya and konshisha and urged the party to revert to the G-14 with a clear-cut terms of reference to handle the pruning of aspirants.
The aspirants at a meeting held at the Tarkaa Foundation in Makurdi, on Monday night, according to available infirmation, described as shocking, a situation where 3 aspirants from Konshisha were all told came first, yet only one was presented as having come first after the exercise, while in Vandeikya Local Government the aspirant announced as having come tops did not even attend the exercise which was said to be a validation process.
It was gathered that the aspirants also expressed concerns that people who took part in the voting in places like Ushongo Local Government were asked to leave the hall while unaccredited persons took part in the skewed exercise.
A source said the meeting which was attended by nineteen aspirants cutting across the four local Governments of Kwande, Ushongo, Vandeikya and Konshisha also expressed concerns that an exercise which ordinarily should have been an internal process degenerated to serious vote-buying and threats to life by some aspirants.
The meeting, according to the source, also attempted to zone the governorship slot but the process was suspended when one of the members drew attention to the disposition of the party to shy away from any zoning.
“We were 19 at the meeting; our chairman, Hon Chille Igbawua was in attendance, Hon. Terwase Orbunde, Julius Atorough except Professor Dennis Tyavyar, Paul Orhii, the Deputy Governor Benson Abouno and 5 others who sent apologies and it was a collective decision that that exercise falls below all known standards of democratic practices and should be canceled completely.
“We took that decision in the overall interest of the party and we shall communicate our decision to the party leadership in the state as well as the national Secretariat of the party, that we are not against any pruning process, but it should be done in a transparent and decent manner where there is justice and equity.
“That is our stand and you can see, that even those who were told came first are part of this meeting and decision. That tells you that we all love to see the party win the and retain Benue State in 2023.”
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