By Julius Alabi
There was strong indications that the forthcoming Saturday’s local government elections in Benue State may be disrupted if adequate security arrangements are not put in place.
It was gathered that some supporters and loyalists of the All Progressives Congress (APC) are hellbent on fomenting trouble on the election day because the party has been fictionalised
The Benue State Independent Electoral Commission, BSIEC had fixed Saturday, October 5, 2024 for the conduct of local government elections across the twenty three local government areas of the state
According to a reliable source, some loyalists of a powerful government official at the Federal level have mobilized militants from the neighbouring Nasarawa and Taraba states for the purpose of causing crisis in Benue state during the election.
It was gathered that this latest action wasn’t unconnected to the refusal of the Alhaji Ganduje-led National Working Committee to hand over the structure of the party to the powerful government official in the state.
It would be recalled that the NWC had recently sacked the Benue APC executives committee and constituted a Caretaker Committee led by Benjamin Omale. The sacked state executive committee was led by Comrade Austin Agada, a political godson of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation
Also, another source confirmed that over twenty thousand thugs had been brought into Makurdi by the powerful APC loyalists. “They are being kept in various hotels and they will be distributed across the twenty three local governments on Friday. Their job is to disrupt the election and make it unpopular in case they cannot cause it not to hold”
It was also gathered that election materials are to be hijacked from BSIEC Adhoc staffs by the hoodlums.
When contacted, head of the disbanded State Executive Committee of the Comrade Austin Agada maintained that his faction was preparing for the election.
He however said he hasn’t heard about any plans to disrupt the process.