By Brenda Agba
Benue State Governor, Rev Fr Hyacinth Alia has been affirmed as the leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state.
The Deputy National Secretary of APC, Barr. Festus Faunter made this declaration during an interview with journalists in Government House Makurdi shortly after a closed door reconciliation meeting with stakeholders of the party.
According to Faunter, “The leadership of the APC in the state as long as the party’s constitution is concerned, is bestowed on the governor of the state”.
Commenting on the position of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Sen Dr George Akume, in the party’s hierarchy, the Deputy National Secretary said, “It is not often times that you have the opportunity of having the SGF coming from the same clan with the governor of a particular state and their working together is a plus and a win-win for Benue State.
“And so we have made this very clear and we are in the process of also reuniting the north-central geopolitical zone where the SGF will take responsibility for the leadership of the region and build for us a strong indivisible north-central,” Faunter stated.
Speaking on the by-election in Guma, Faunter assured of it’s success.
“By the grace of God, we are going into the Saturday by-election as an indivisible front and to God will be the glory as we win the State Assembly which we conceded by our own will and so we are going to take it by our own cooperation,” he assured.
On the reasons that necessitated the meeting, the APC Deputy National Secretary said it was in line with the party’s National Working Committee’s (NWC) decision to meet with stakeholders in states where the party is having issues.
“Benue State is not an exception but whatever happened before now has been put behind.
“We came out of the meeting smiling. This means that all the loose ends have been tightened and we are going to work as one indivisible family, having agreed among ourselves that henceforth, it is a new dawn and the sky is the limit for the APC”, he stated.
Also speaking, the Executive Governor of Benue State, Rev Fr Hyacinth Alia who was also part of the meeting, expressed appreciation to members of the APC national delegation for their efforts at ensuring that peace is returned within the party in the state.
“I am also happy that all the party men and women in the state who are the primary stakeholders, are excited about the meeting and it is my sincere hope that they are going to turn a new leaf.
“We are going to suspend every thing that tends to draw us back. At this point, we are looking forward to ensuring that Benue gains all the benefits associated with having a Governor at the state level and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation at the national level”, Alia maintained.
Meanwhile, commenting on the alleged anti-party activities level against Berger Alfred of Makurdi 1 State Constituency, the Benue State Chairman of the APC, Comrade Austin Agada, said the matter will be handled by the party in line with the provisions of it’s constitution.