The All Progressives Congress, APC, Senatorial candidate for Benue South in the 2023 General Elections, Daniel Onjeh, has petitioned the party’s National Chairman, Abdullahi Ganduje, alleging that the state chairman of the ruling party, Austin Agada, was involved in anti-party activities.
In the petition sighted by OsunDailyNG correspondent, Onjeh alleged that the Benue State APC Chairman and his “acolytes rigged the 2023 senatorial election in Benue South” in favour of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
Onjeh explained that the alleged anti-party activities were responsible for APC’s defeat for both the senatorial and the presidential elections in the zone, wondering how the party lost the polls and both won three out of the four House of Reps seats.
“If you care to research the history of elections in Nigeria, you will discover that it has never happened in any other election aside from the 2023 General Elections in Benue South, where a particular party won three out of four House of Reps seats in a senatorial district; and yet lost the senate,” stated Onjeh.
The former Chairman of the Projects Development Institute, PRODA, Enugu, Governing Board further accused the APC Chairman of sourcing funds from the party’s stalwarts to fund campathe ign of opposition candidates.
Attaching the alleged receipts of financial transactions, Onjeh said he stumbled across incontrovertible evidence that Agada made copious cash contributions to the campaign of an opposition candidate, who according to him was later declared winner of the elections.
“On the 5th of December, 2022, at 9:19am, in the heat of the electioneering campaign for the 2023 polls, Mr Agada transferred the sum of Five Million Naira (N5,000,000.00) only to a third party, (name withheld) and via an SMS, instructed her to transfer the same to an opposition candidate.
The lady transferred the aforementioned amount to the candidate’s bank account immediately.
“Furthermore, on 8th December 2022, at 3:48pm, Mr Agada transferred another sum of Four Million Naira (N4,000,000.00) only to the same person and via SMS, directed her to transfer the same to the opposition candidate”.
However, during a conversation with OsunDailyNG Mr Austin Agada claimed he was unaware of the reasons for Onjeh’s allegations.
In his words, Agada said, “I don’t want to join issues with Onjeh. I don’t know where that is coming from.”‘
