May 01, (THEWILL) – The Benue State chapter of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) said it did not feature any candidate in the local government polls held last Saturday.
A spokesperson for the party said, “Officially, we were not in support of any PDP candidate or BSIEC process. It shouldn’t be strange that even political parties that are part of the mess in Benue State did not even participate in the election.
“Our members are to please note that, beyond our non participation, we firmly believe BSIEC under the PDP government cannot hold any credible polls. Previous media reports that the Ad-hoc staff of the electoral body have been waiting for months to get paid their dues is very disturbing. Other pre-election hiccups, as we understand, affirms that nothing has really changed.”
A statement signed by Mr Sam Agwa in Makurdi last Friday, pointed out that previous polls conducted in 2020, which he described as ‘rubber stamped and mere templates,’ were widely believed to have only wasted state funds and possibly enriched the pockets of a few privileged interests groups.
He said, “NNPP members are therefore, not expected to participate, but theycould do so only as private citizens and out of their volition as Benue citizens. We believe that when we take over from May 29, 2023, we shall via policy and legislation give meaning and significance to the electoral process in Benue State”.
Agwa, stated that, for now, they can only manage along and trust that sooner Benue will rise again and elections will be driven on core democratic values where every Benue citizen across all political parties will not be electorally shortchanged or arm-twisted.
Earlier, the leadership of the All Progressives Congress in Benue State had decided that the party would not participate in the local government polls under the present PDP leadership in the state.
The Chairman of the party in Benue, Austn Agada, arising from one of its meetings in Makurdi, had said that nothing good would come out of the exercise and advised NNPP members to stay away so as not to be ridiculed.
The tenure of the outgoing local government council officials elected in 2020 will end early in June 2022.
