….Accuses him of anti-party activities
An All Progressives Congress (APC) support group in in Benue State, APC League of Voters has taken accused a former governorship aspirant in 2022 gubernatorial primaries of the party in the state, Senator Barnabas Gemade of working against the fortunes of the party, calling him a mole.
Comrade Austin Agada, the Benue State chairman of the APC has also vowed to deal ruthlessly with Gemade or any of the party’s members that may have sabotaged the efforts of the party by indulging in anti-party activities.
Gemade, former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is also one of the APC governorship aspirants that took the party to court challenging the emergence of its candidate in the forthcoming governorship election, Rev Fr Hyacinth Alia.
A press statement on Friday signed by the leader and secretary of the group, Orduen Aernan and Bem Adoor described Senator Gemade as an interloper and called on the APC in the state to discipline the former PDP leader.
The League of Voters, which called on the APC in the state to discipline Senator Gemade for engaging in unwholesome activities, observed that based on the behaviour and activities of Gemade, it has come to a conclusion that Gemade is a threat to the APC.
The group said, “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.
“This means that he is an interloper who found his way into the party fold when nomination forms were being sold and closed.
“The implication is that the screening of party candidates had concluded, and the final list of successful and eligible candidates for election duly published before Barnabas Gemade curiously wriggled his way into the party, when the most bizarre happened; he got a “waiver”, participated in the primaries, and was announced the winner.
The group added, “He would later be elected into the red chambers of the national assembly. But after four 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 the Social Democratic Party (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 said.
The group which said it regretted the actions of Senator Gemade who took Rev Fr Alia to court noted that against all pleas from respected personalities in Tiv land, 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 the other in a manner that is characteristic of a bad loser.”
The group pointed out that the results of the last presidential and National Assembly elections, especially in his Mbawar ward of Konshisha LGA, further served to expose how he and members of his team ensured that APC was defeated in their wards and other polling units in their area.
Consequently, the APC League of Voters stressed that they consider this as another way of sabotaging the party and therefore made bold to call for immediate disciplinary measures against Barnabas Gemade who is bent on crippling the party in the state.
While reacting to the allegations, the state chairman of the party, Comrade Austin Agada confirmed that he was aware of the issues raised by the group.
He noted that the League of Voters was not the first APC group to have leveled allegations of anti-party activities against Senator Gemade, even as he assured that their claims would be investigated.
Agada warned that no one that engages in anti-party activities would go unpunished.
He said, “For us as a party, we have worked so hard and we don’t know why anybody will engage in anti-party activity at this stage.
“We are going to investigate everybody that has been accused 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 for posterity sake,” he said.
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