Omakolo emerges Benue APC acting Chairman

Mr Benjamin Omakolo has emerged as the new acting State Chairman of the Benue chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) following the earlier suspension of the substantive chairman, Mr Austin Agada on January 31.

Omakolo was the APC Welfare Secretary before he was appointed acting state chairman by the party stakeholders in Benue South Senatorial District.

Governor Hyacinth Alia unveiled the new state APC Chairman during the party’s State Executive Committee meeting on Thursday.

He explained that the suspension of Agada had created a vacuum in the State Working Committee of the party which needed to be filled.

Alia said since the suspension of Agada by his Ehaje ward 1 EXCO, and subsequent court injunction restraining him from parading as the State Chairman of APC, he has faced so much pressure from the stakeholders of the party in Benue South Senatorial District.

He said that the stakeholders recommended Omakolo to replace the Agada in order to keep the party going.

The governor said that having been ratified by the state Executive Committee Members of the party, Omakalo would remain acting chairman of the party pending the outcome of the court case instituted against Agada.

Earlier during the meeting, the State  Organising Secretary of the APC, Mr James Ornguga, said the party was rudderless following the suspension and the subsisting court order restraining Agada from acting as the chairman of the party.

He said the Governor as the leader of the party has the constitutional powers to preside over the State Executive Committee meeting to ratify the replacement of any member of the State Working Committee.

In his remarks, the Speaker, Benue State House of Assembly, Mr Aondona Dajoh, urged the executive committee members and the entire APC family in the state to support the new acting chairman to succeed.

Dajoh said all the 20 APC State assembly members support the decision to replace the suspended chairman.

In their separate remarks, the Secretary of the APC in Ogbadibo LGA, Mr Abba Isaiah, Chairman of the APC in Konshisha LGA, Mr Daniel Aginde, and the State Assistant Legal Adviser of the party, Mr Success Ajuma, all pledged to support the acting chairman to succeed.

In his acceptance speech, Omakolo promised to unite the party and strategically placed it in a position to win more elections in the future.