Nigerian Concord Newspaper
A breeze of peace may blow on the Benue State chapter of All Progressive Congress, APC tomorrow after the reconciliation meeting between Governor Hyacinth Alia and SGF George Akume.
Recall that both Alia and Akume have been at loggerheads over the control of the APC structure in Benue State for close to three years..
Tomorrow’s meeting which is at the instance of President Bola Tinubu on a way to find a lasting solution to the power tussle in the Benue APC will be taking place at the Benue State Government House in Makurdi tomorrow, Sunday.
However, some governorship aspirants under the platform of the ruling party like Matthias Byuan, Pius Akutah, Terwase Orbunde and others may be asked to step down for Governor Alia to be the sole candidate of the party in the next year’s governorship election.
This newspaper gathered that for Byuan and others to step down from the race, Governor Hyacinth Alia must agree to share all elective posts from the Senate, House of Representatives and House of Assembly with SGF Akume.
SGF Akume during a last week’s meeting with President Bola Tinubu reportedly demanded the Senate slots for Benue Northwest and Northeast as well as all the House of Representatives slots in Zone B. He also asked that fifteen House of Assembly slots be given to him.
Additionally, Akume also asked for two out of the three House of Representatives slots from Benue South Senatorial Zone..
He also demanded that some changes be immediately made in the party structure at the state level as well as government appointments in order to accommodate his own people.
“Once the governor agrees to the requests by Senator George Akume, all the aspirants vying for governorship will be asked to step down for him to be a sole candidate of the party, and we will all support him to victory.
“The governor will be the one to present candidates for the entire House of Representatives slots in Benue Northeast senatorial zone and also the remaining slots left for House of Assembly.
“He will also be the one to produce the candidate for Okpokwu/Ogbadibo/Ado House of Representatives seat as a consensus candidate immediately he and Akume reach an agreement at tomorrow’s meeting ”
For the party structure, Senator George Akume has reportedly conceded the State chairmanship to the governor’s camp. He however demanded to be the one to nominate the State Organizing Secretary.