Benue APC reconciliation wobbles as Deputy gov disowns ‘automatic ticket’ communique
By Peter Duru, Makurdi
The Benue State Deputy Governor, Dr. Samuel Ode, has dismissed reports claiming that the state’s All Progressives Congress (APC) reconciliation communique drafting committee approved automatic tickets for its National and State Assembly members ahead of the next elections, describing the publication as misleading.
Speaking to journalists on Tuesday in Makurdi, Dr. Ode, who chaired the committee said the purported communique being circulated did not reflect the outcome of the committee’s work.
According to him, the document in question was merely a draft still undergoing review by key stakeholders, including Governor Hyacinth Alia and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator George Akume.
Ode explained that “there was a reconciliation meeting on May 3, 2026, convened by the Governor and the SGF, after which a communique drafting committee was set up. It is important to emphasize that ours was strictly a drafting committee. We prepared a draft and forwarded it to the Governor and the SGF for their inputs and approval.”
He stressed that at no point did the committee recommend automatic tickets for any category of lawmakers, insisting that such claims were entirely fabricated.
“At no time in our communique did we mention automatic tickets for National Assembly members, State Assembly members, or anybody for that matter. We never discussed or approved anything like that,” he said.
Dr. Ode further clarified that the committee lacked the mandate to sign or release any final communique, noting that only the Governor and the SGF, as co-conveners of the meeting, are authorized to endorse such a document.
“It was not our duty to sign on behalf of the conveners. What we produced was a draft. So how someone took our attendance register, attached it to a so-called communique, and released it to the public is quite intriguing,” he added.
The Deputy Governor also pointed out that the APC National Vice Chairman for the North-Central zone, Alhaji Mu’azu Rijau, had clearly stated during the meeting that the party had adopted direct primaries for selecting candidates, a position he said contradicts the idea of automatic tickets.
“There is no way we could have contradicted that position by inserting automatic tickets into the communique,” he said.
On the progress of the reconciliation process, Ode described it as ongoing, noting that “Reconciliation is a journey, not a destination. The fact that stakeholders came together to talk is already a significant step forward,” he stated.
He expressed optimism about the party’s chances in future elections, saying, “We are going to win our elections in a landslide. The President and the Governor will also win convincingly. This optimism is based on concrete performance.”
Corroborating the Deputy Governor’s position, the Chief of Staff to the Governor, Mr. Moses Atagher, who is also a member of the drafting committee, said the SGF never advocated automatic tickets during the meeting.
“Even the SGF did not mention automatic tickets throughout his speech. He only expressed a desire that current lawmakers could be retained, subject to the party’s constitution and guidelines,” Atagher said.
He described the leak of the draft document as “the height of desperation,” stressing that it was premature to make public a work still under review.
“If the Governor and the SGF convened the meeting, and their signatures are not on the communique, then who will implement it? They are the authorized signatories, not the drafting committee,” he added.
As of the time of filing this report, the final communique from the reconciliation meeting had yet to be officially released.
The post Benue APC reconciliation wobbles as Deputy gov disowns ‘automatic ticket’ communique appeared first on Vanguard News.