2023: Group Raises Alarm Over Alleged Plot to Forge INEC Documents in Benue
- The Benue Youths Forum says there are plots to circumvent the 2022 Electoral Acts as amended by INEC
- The group said the move is in order to smuggle in reports on special congresses which were neither conducted by the Benue APC
- According to the youth group, the APC in Benue has no properly nominated candidates in the entire state
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Makurdi - The Benue Youths Forum, BYF have raised an alarm over alleged plots to circumvent the 2022 Electoral Acts as amended by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)
According to the group, some elements are planning to smuggle in reports on special congresses which were neither conducted by the Benue state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) or monitored by INEC.
Source: Facebook
Terrence Kuanum, convener of BYF, said Section 84(4)(c) of the Electoral Act, 2022 makes it mandatory that when a political party elects to go for the option of direct primary mode for electing its candidates, it must conduct special congresses to ratify the winners of such primaries.
He said in the case of the APC in Benue state, the certified true copies of the various INEC monitoring reports issued by the electoral body's team of observers did not show the conduct of such special congresses.
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His words:
“It is only the certified true copy of the monitoring report for the APC's Governorship primaries that shows at paragraph 7 that a special congress held on the 9th of May, 2022 at the APC secretariat, Makurdi to ratify the winner of its gubernatorial primaries.
“The implication is that even before the whistle is blown for commencement of electioneering, the APC in Benue has no properly nominated candidates in the entire 32 State Assembly Constituencies, 11 Federal Constituencies and 3 Senatorial Constituencies of Benue State.
“The fact that the INEC headquarters is not in custody of a single special congress report for APC's State and National Assembly primaries over 2 months after the exercise held on 26th and 27th May, 2022 and long after various persons applied formally to INEC in Abuja shows that no such report(s) exists in the first place.”
He stated that the police high command has been petitioned by BYF to look into the matter.
The forum advised the APC in Benue to concentrate on defending the process that led to the emergence of their candidates in the state.
Security concerns more important than forthcoming elections - APC chieftain
Meanwhile, APC chieftain, Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim has urged political leaders not to concentrate only on 2023 elections permutations.
According to the former presidential aspirant, security concerns hovering over the nation are more pressing than the elections.
He also appealed to the federal government to take the prevailing security concerns seriously.
Insurgency: Chief of Air Staff asks NAF commanders to go after terrorists
On his part, the Chief of the Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Oladayo Amao has charged Nigerian Air Force (NAF) operational commanders in the various theatres of operation across the country to ‘show no mercy’ to terrorists.
The CAS while speaking in Kaduna on Tuesday, August 2 asked the commanders to ensure they employ maximum firepower against terrorists posing security threats in the country.
Air Marshal Amao also underscored the need for effective allocation and utilization of all NAF platforms deployed for operations in the northwest and northcentral for enhanced operational effectiveness.
Source: Legit.ng
