2027: ‘APC will lose before noon if Alia finally gets governorship ticket’ — Otache

A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Benue State, Barrister Napoleon Otache, has warned that the party risks suffering a crushing defeat in the 2027 governorship election if it fields Governor Hyacinth Alia as its candidate.

Otache, who is the APC Zonal Legal Adviser for Benue South (Zone C), made the assertion during an interview on Arise Television, where he defended the party’s reported decision to grant incumbent National Assembly members the right of first refusal ahead of the 2027 general elections.

According to him, the crisis within the Benue APC, which he said began shortly after Governor Alia assumed office, has continued to deepen despite efforts by President Bola Tinubu to reconcile aggrieved factions.

He claimed that President Tinubu had intervened by recommending that incumbent National Assembly members seeking re-election be considered for automatic tickets in order to preserve party unity.

Otache alleged that Governor Alia rejected the proposal and insisted that all aspirants should participate in the party primaries.

“The worst that will happen to APC is to give the governorship ticket of the party to the current governor. If the governorship ticket of APC is given to the current governor of Benue State, the APC will lose the election before 12 noon,” he said.

He further alleged that the governor manipulated the party’s primary elections, adding that several aggrieved aspirants petitioned the APC National Appeal Committee over the conduct of the exercise.

According to him, the appeals committee has given the petitions favourable consideration and indications suggest that President Tinubu’s intervention on the issue of incumbent lawmakers may ultimately prevail.

Defending the concept of automatic tickets, Otache argued that political parties have the constitutional right to determine who emerges as their candidates.

He likened a political party to a vehicle, saying the leadership reserves the right to decide who boards it.

“A political party determines who its candidates will be. During the stakeholders’ meeting, the President’s position was made clear that incumbent National Assembly members should enjoy the right of first refusal if they wished to return,” he said.

Otache also dismissed concerns that the policy could trigger mass defections from the APC, insisting that long-serving lawmakers remain the party’s strongest electoral assets.

He argued that replacing them with what he described as newcomers would weaken the APC ahead of the 2027 elections.

The APC chieftain further alleged that retaining Governor Alia as the party’s governorship candidate would hand victory to the opposition and politically embarrass the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume.

He urged the party leadership to restore tickets to experienced party loyalists and allow due process to prevail in resolving the internal crisis ahead of the 2027 general elections.