Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Benue State, Mr Augustine Agada, has been suspended by the leadership of the party in his Ward.
OsunDailyNG reports that the development followed an allegation of anti-party activity levelled against him by Comrade Dan Onjeh, the party’s 2023 Senatorial candidate for Benue Zone C.
Recall that Onjeh recently petitioned the National Chairman of the party, Abdullahi Ganduje, alleging that Augustine Agada funded the campaign and election of some candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, during the last election.
In the petition, Onjeh unveiled evidence alleging the bank transactions involving Agada and some PDP members.
Agada had, however, told OsunDailyNG that he was not aware of the allegation, saying he did not want to join issues with Onjeh.
But after deliberating on the matter, the APC executives in Ehaje Ward 1, Owukpa, Ogbadibo Local Government Area of Benue State, passed a vote of no confidence in Agada.
Citing relevant provisions of the APC Constitution, the ward leadership listed seven grounds for the suspension of Agada from the party.
According to them, “Mr. Agada’s failure to appear before the Ward Disciplinary Committee to address the allegations against him despite the Ward’s invitation to him to do so; the Ward Exco found compelling evidence of Mr. Agada working against the party’s interest in the Benue South Senatorial District during the 2023 elections.
“These anti-party activities included: campaigning for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Sen. Abba Moro; dampening the morale of APC supporters and encouraging anti-party activities within the ward, and losing his own polling unit (Ai-Igado Ehaje 1) in the presidential, senatorial, and House of Representatives elections.”
They also cited Agada’s alleged moves to withhold the funds the party at the national level provided for the Ward for logistics and election day activities.
According to them, the action was taken unanimously to protect the APC from Agada’s political mischief and to instil discipline within the party.
“We believe this is necessary to deter future anti-party activities and foster unity among party members.”
