By Amos Aar, Makurdi
THE All Progressives Congress (APC) in Benue State has zoned 2023 governorship ticket to both Benue Zone C and Jechira Tiv geo-political group.
Zone C is made up of Idoma including all Idoma sub-ethnic groups – Igede, Akpa, and Ufia, while Jechira comprises Vandeikya and Kwande Tiv cultural zone.
This was contained in a statement released on Sunday night, signed by Hon. Paul Biam, the APC State Secretary who doubles as Secretary of the Governorship Zoning Committee.
“The All Progressives Congress (APC) Benue State Chapter has announced resolutions after the party held a 2-day retreat on All Governorship Aspirants in the state after the party agreed that it became necessary to trim down the number of governorship aspirants towards arriving at the best decision in the interest of the party.
“After contributions from stakeholders of the party and governorship aspirants, the party’s Elders Council in conjunction with State Working Committee (SWC) decided to constitute a Governorship Zoning Committee (GZC) with the aim of trimming down the list of aspirants to a manageable size. This committee has been sitting in Abuja and on Saturday 30th April 2022 (yesterday) after objectively accessing all the governorship aspirants came out with the following resolutions:
“That it’s on record that only Kwande, Jechira in Zone A, and Zone C are contesting the 2023 governorship election in Benue. The committee after due considerations resolved that the Kwande bloc in Zone A having benefited the first slot as the Executive Governor of Benue through His Excellency Late Apollos Aper Aku who after his first 4-year tenure was re-elected for a second term and took oath of office before the men in uniform struck and therefore advised the Kwande intermediate area to voluntarily withdraw from the race.
“The committee further resolved that the Jechira bloc in Zone A which had previously benefited the Governorship for only 17 Months which is less than half tenure should go ahead and participate at the forthcoming APC Governorship Primaries in the state.
“The committee after consultations decided that the Zone C which has not benefited from the governorship slot in Benue since the creation of the state should as well proceed with their intentions and fully participate in the APC governorship primaries.
“The committee finally advised those affected to, in the interest of the party, cooperate with this new development and regret any inconvenience this decision might have caused them”, the statement reads.
Now, the zone C and Jechira aspirants are to jostle for governorship ticket and arrive at a single candidate through primaries.
