As the All Progressives Congress in Benue State holds its governorship primary on Friday, twelve successful aspirants will jostle for the vote of 1,517 delegates.
Among the successful aspirants are: a Catholic priest, Rev Fr Hyacinth Alia; one time national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Barnabas Gemade; Professor Terhemba Shija; erstwhile Chief of Staff to Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State, Terwase Orbunde, and Matthias Byuan.
Others are: former Minister of State for Niger Delta, Sam Ode; former deputy governor of Niger State, Steven Lawani; a serving member of the House of Representatives, Hemma Hembe; former Anthony General of the Federation, Mike Aondoakaa (SAN), among others.
The Publicity Secretary and Organising Secretary of the party, Dan Ihomun and James Orgunga respectively, told our correspondent that the party had cleared 12 aspirants, adding that there were 1,517 delegates that would decide who becomes the party flag bearer on Friday.
Ihomun and Orgunga said, “We have over 1,380 elected delegates, party chairmen at local government, 46 delegates, 36 state executive members, and 55 statutory delegates for the governorship primaries.
“These (statutory delegates) are made up of former Assembly members, former governors, and former senators.”
One of the frontline governorship aspirants on the platform of the party who did not want to be mentioned disclosed that, as of Monday, “talks are still on to see if stakeholders will be able to settle for a consensus candidate.
“But in the event they (stakeholders) cannot agree on a consensus candidate, the election will hold on Friday,” the aspirant said.
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