By Amos Aar
THE EMBATTLED Benue State Acting Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Benjamin Omakolo, has accused the Benue State Commissioner of Police, Mr Emmanuel Adesina, of bias by denying him access to the party’s state secretariat but allowed Austin Agada untrammelled access to the office.
Agada, the substantive state chairman of the APC, was restrained by the state High Court from parading himself as chairman following his alleged suspension by his ward, Owukpa Ehaje 1 in Ogbadibo LGA, which was however reportedly set aside by the APC National Working Committee (NWC).
Consequently, Governor Alia appointed Omakolo as acting chairman pending the court’s verdict. But a Makurdi High Court presided over by the State Chief Judge, Justice Maurice Ikpambese, had on Tuesday given an interim injunction reinstating Agada. Omakolo is alleged to have appealed against the reinstatement and obtained a restraining order from the Makurdi Division of the Court of Appeal.
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In his statement on Thursday, Omakolo described Agada’s reinstatement as a pyrrhic victory, adding that the alleged preferential treatment by the Commissioner of Police was highly condemnable.
Omakolo’s full statement reads: “The Benue State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) is alarmed by the show of shame by the suspended erstwhile Chairman of our party, Austin Agada today. Even a layman knows that any pronouncement by a competent court cannot be validly voided by a court of cognate jurisdiction. It was therefore a momentary and pyrrhic victory ab initio which was justifiably set aside by the appeal court.
“Therefore, the macabre dance in the nomenclature of a press conference by Comrade Austin Agada today was a desperate, wreckless [sic] and infantile display of unlawfulness for which records must be set straight.
“It is an incontrovertible fact that the decision of the state executive committee of our party to enable me oversee the affairs of our party following the suspension of Comrade Agada was received with wild jubilation by members of our party accross [sic] the state, an action that placed a seal of confidence in us.
“It is also important to know that the seemingly partial role played by the Commissioner of Police of Benue State call for circumspection; his adamant, yet unexplainable refusal to grant me and my Exco assess [sic] to the state Secretariat of the party despite my valid enthronement by the highest decision making body of our party in the state is condemnable. This role by the commissioner of police seems weird, partial, unjust and reminscent [sic] of an action prompted by some underhand dealings.
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“Let me assure all members of the APC in Benue State that I will not submit to the antics of fifth columnists who are bent on distabilizing the APC in Benue so as to continue to fester their egocentric and self serving objectives.
“We remain loyal and supportive to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, our National Chairman, Dr Umar Abdulahi Ganduje, Governor Hyacinth Iormem Alia and all leaders of our party at all levels.
May God help APC, Benue and Nigeria”.
Benue State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Superintendent of Police (SP) Sewuese Anene, was yet to, on behalf of the Police Commissioner, respond to National Record‘s enquiry as to why Omakolo was allegedly locked out of the secretariat while Agada was given unrestricted access.
