Confusion In Benue APC As Party Elders Ask Daniel Onjeh To Step Down for Mike Onoja
Crisis has
hit the Benue State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as
party elders are prevailing on Daniel Onjeh, the party’s Benue South
senatorial candidate to step down for Chief Mike Onoja, a former
Permanent Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Defence.
Trouble started when party elders
converged on Otukpo after Daniel Onjeh’s senatorial re-run declaration,
which was held last Saturday. The elders, The Trent
gathered from an informed source, were concerned over the dwindling
fortunes of Daniel Onjeh in the senatorial race. Onjeh, the party elders
argued was no longer sellable, hence the need to step down for a
candidate who can match David Mark experience for experience.
“The party elders in Benue South came
together in Otukpo on Sunday after last Saturday’s declaration and told
Daniel Onjeh that they had settled for Chief Mike Onoja as a more viable
candidate based on his wealth of experience. But Onjeh was very furious
about the suggestion and insisted he was going to run. After a meeting
that lasted for almost 4 hours, the party elders could not convince him
to step down for Chief Onoja.
The meeting ended in confusion”, the
source said.
It will be recalled that Chief Onoja was
one of the aspirants for Benue Zone C Senatorial seat on the platform
of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) but stepped down for Senator David
Mark who later clinched the party nomination. Chief Onoja later
decamped to the APC.
The Benue State chapter of APC, The Trent
gathered is still in confusion as plans to sell Onjeh to the people of
Idoma have continued to hit the rocks. Onjeh’s declining chances have
forced the party to begin to reconsider the option of a new candidate
who can face the former President of the Senate, David Mark.
Some observers of Benue South politics
who spoke to our reporter say the APC is determined to unseat Senator
David Mark, hence the desperation to get him out of the Senate at any
cost.
“The APC sees David Mark as the last
major threat they have in PDP in the Senate. So if they are able to
remove David Mark, it would send a big statement across the polity. That
is why the APC is very desperate to remove David Mark”, Gabriel Yogbo, a
political analyst told The Trent on Thursday.
Another major factor playing out in Benue South is what one political observer who spoke to The Trent described as the Tiv agenda against Idoma land.
“David Mark has always been a beacon of
hope to the Idoma people. He is seen as a threat by Tiv politicians like
George Akume. So for them, this election is about weakening the Idomas
and further reducing them to a political minority in Benue State. If Tiv
politicians like Akume can get a yes man like Daniel Onjeh, then they
would have pocketed Idomas for the next couple of years”, the political
analyst from Idoma land who did not want to be named said.
As confusion rages in the camp of the
Benue State APC over a possible replacement for Daniel Onjeh, the Benue
South senatorial re-run has been scheduled by INEC for February 20,
2016.
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