Benue APC may suffer Zamfara setback — Ejor warns

A public affairs analyst and Abuja-based lawyer, Edward Akum Ejor, has accused some leaders of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Benue State of trampling on the party’s constitution through what he described as the illegal dissolution of the Augustine Agada-led State Executive Committee.

Ejor, in a detailed statement titled “The Deliberate Illegality in Benue APC; An Injustice,” argued that the dissolution of the elected state executive and the subsequent inauguration of a caretaker committee violated the constitution of the ruling party and posed serious dangers to internal democracy in Benue State.

He maintained that the Agada-led executive committee was validly elected during a properly conducted congress and had a four-year tenure running from February 3, 2022 to February 2, 2026.

According to him, the crisis began after an interim injunction issued by a High Court sitting in Aliade restrained Agada from parading himself as APC chairman in the state. He, however, noted that the order was later set aside by the Chief Judge of Benue State, Justice Maurice Ikpambese.

Ejor alleged that despite the vacation of the order, Governor Hyacinth Alia allegedly refused to work with the duly elected executive committee and instead recognized an alternative structure allegedly unknown to the APC constitution.

The Abuja-based lawyer further faulted the decision of the National Working Committee, NWC, which dissolved the Benue State Executive Committee on August 21, 2024 and replaced it with a seven-member caretaker committee.

He argued that the NWC lacked constitutional powers to constitute a caretaker committee, insisting that such powers are exclusively vested in the National Executive Committee, NEC, under Article 13.3(B) of the APC constitution.

“The caretaker committee was an illegality ab initio. The constitution is clear on who has powers to set up such a committee,” he stated.

Ejor further claimed that a competent court had already declared the dissolution of the Benue APC executive illegal and nullified the activities of the caretaker committee, stressing that the judgment remained subsisting.

He warned that the continued disregard for party constitution and court judgments could deepen the crisis within the APC in Benue State and potentially threaten the party’s future electoral fortunes.

Drawing parallels with the 2019 Zamfara APC crisis, Ejor cautioned party leaders against actions capable of creating constitutional complications ahead of future elections.

Recall that the Supreme Court in 2019 nullified the elections of all APC candidates in Zamfara State after ruling that the party failed to conduct valid primaries, thereby rendering votes scored by the party invalid.

The judgment led to the loss of the governorship, National Assembly and State Assembly seats won by the APC in the state.

Political observers say the Zamfara experience remains one of the biggest legal setbacks suffered by a political party in Nigeria’s democratic history and serves as a warning against disregard for party constitutions and internal democratic procedures.

Ejor insisted that party leaders in Benue must avoid repeating mistakes capable of plunging the APC into avoidable legal and political crises.

“The law must be respected. You cannot put something on nothing and expect it to stand,” he added.