The Forum of All Progressives Congress (APC) Support Groups Leaders has called on President Bola Tinubu and the national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr. Abdulahi Ganduje to intervene in the ongoing crisis rocking the Benue state chapter of the party.
Its Director General, AK Peters make the call while addressing a press conference in Abuja.
The forum recalled that the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party acted on the powers of National Executive Committee (NEC) dissolved the Benue State Executives and constituted a unity caretaker committee in February 2024, bringing to an end, the warring factions within the party in Benue state.
It noted that after the Caretaker Committee was inaugurated, the former state chairman Austin Agada went to court to challenge the powers of Tinubu who is the chairman of NEC and Ganduje over the dissolution of Benue State chapter and the inauguration of the unity caretaker committee.
The forum stressed that the dissolved exco went ahead and forwarded a list of candidates to the Benue State Independent Electoral Commission (BSIEC) challenging the leadership of the party.
It, however, expressed disappointment that the former chairman went to court to challenge the party against the party’s constitution, which states that members must exhaust all internal mechanisms to resolve an issue before going to the court.
It alleged that the Chief Judge of Benue State, Justice Maurice Ikpambese has clearly taken side with the dissolved executive to undermine Tinubu and Ganduje’s leadership.
It stated: “We have it in good authority that the Chief Judge of Benue State has relocated the Benue State Local Government Elections Petition Tribunal from Makurdi to Abuja after granting a waiver to the petitioners not to pay security deposit as required by the law, citing hardship in the land.
“There is no section of the constitution or laws of Benue State that empowers the Chief Judge to grant waiver to the petitioners or move a local government tribunal from the state of jurisdiction to Abuja.
“We understand that the ongoing crisis in Benue is as a result of the decision of the NWC acting on the powers of NEC which changed the leadership of the party in Benue State and the party must wade in to defend its decision by maintaining party supremacy as enshrined in our constitution.
“We strongly call on the national leadership of the party, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Dr Abdullahi Umar Gandje to immediately wade into the pending danger and threat to democracy in Benue State.”