Onjeh Slams Ganduje, APC NWC Members with Seven Days Ultimatum to Either Obey Party Constitution or Resign

Chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the party’s 2023 senatorial candidate for Benue South, Com. Daniel Onjeh, has issued a stern seven-day ultimatum to the National Chairman of the party, Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje, along with all members of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC), to either treat his petition of anti-party activities leveled against the suspended Chairman of the APC in Benue State, Mr. Augustine Agada, or resign from their positions.

In a letter dated 25th March, 2024 and addressed to the APC NWC through the National Chairman, which leaked to the press, Com. Onjeh stated that the APC National Leadership and NWC members have no business occupying their esteemed positions in the party’s hierarchy, in the face of their brazen circumvention of relevant sections of the APC constitution, adding that they lacked the moral rectitude to issue directives to any member of the party when they themselves were not upholding the spirit and letters of the party’s constitution.

Onjeh’s letter is coming on the heels of the statement issued by the party’s NWC after its 146th meeting held in Abuja on March 20th, 2024, where it resolved that all ongoing cases filed in the name of the party or associated with matters concerning the party, and involving party members in the Benue State Chapter of the APC, must be discontinued and withdrawn from the courts within the next seven (7) days. The party further threatened that failure to comply with this resolution will result in disciplinary action being taken against any member responsible for such suits, including immediate suspension and ultimately expulsion from the Party.

But Onjeh frowned at what he called the NWC’s apparent utter disregard for his petition dated January 22, 2024, and the subsequent reminder he wrote to it on February 6, 2024, wherein he leveled allegations of anti-party activities against Mr. Agada, including: swapping the party agents (whose enlistment fees Onjeh allegedly earlier paid for) with persons that were not members of the APC; withholding party tags from party agents in Onjeh’s ward of Orokam District in Ogbadibo LGA, to prevent them from performing their lawful duty of protecting Onjeh’s votes at the polling unit level; withholding all party funds meant for the 2023 election-day logistics in Benue South; meeting and pleading with the then APC deputy gubernatorial candidate of Benue State, Dr. Sam Ode, (now the Deputy Governor of the state) to work for Onjeh’s opponent, Senator Abba Moro (the current Senate Minority Leader); and funding Sen. Moro’s 2023 Senatorial Campaign to the tune of at least Nine Million Naira (N9,000,000.00) only. Onjeh alleged that these grievous infractions were committed by Mr. Agada with the aim of sabotaging him and undermining his electoral chances, and bringing the APC in Benue South Senatorial District (Zone C) to disrepute.

Noting that the NWC’s failure to address his petition was a clear statement that they had taken sides with the injustice that had festered in the Benue State Chapter of the APC, onjeh added that the NWC failed in one of its cardinal constitutional duties and responsibilities, principally Article 13, Section 3.3. A (v) which states that: “The NWC shall Exercise control and take disciplinary actions on all organs, officers and members of the Party and determine appeals brought before it by any member or organ of the Party.”

Onjeh was further of the view that the progressive members of the APC in Benue State will disregard the directive of the party to withdraw their relevant pending cases in court, adding that propriety and natural justice demands that the NWC must explain to him why it refused to attend to his petition, bearing in mind that justice deferred is justice denied. “Let it be reminded that we, the members of the APC, respect the NWC only because we are bound by one document: the party constitution. So, as long as it disrespects that document, we also shall not be morally bound to abide by its directives because its noncompliance with the constitution deprives it of any modicum of moral rectitude and the right to issue a directive or to enforce it,” stated Onjeh.

The Former Chairman of the Governing Board of PRODA, Enugu, further alleged that the NWC’s resolution was an overt endorsement of Mr. Augustine Agada’s gross anti-party activities. “It is a pat on the back of an egregious offender, a barefaced compromise of good conscience and a desecration of the party constitution, its principles, and mores. By this action, the NWC has killed the very spirit of the letters of the APC Constitution.”

“Let me state categorically that as long as the NWC fails to abide by the party constitution, we, the progressive members of the APC in Benue State, shall not abide by its directives. We shall not withdraw any case in court as we cannot be gagged into silence nor be cowed into submitting our necks to the slaughter slaps of injustice. Ubi jus ubi remedium is a Latin legal maxim that translates to ‘where there is a right, there is a remedy.’ It encapsulates the principle that when a legal right is violated, the law provides a corresponding remedy or relief to the aggrieved party,” stated Onjeh.

Onjeh added that it was befuddling, the fact that despite the rot the APC in Benue State fell into under the maladministration of Mr. Augustine Agada, the party’s NWC forsook reason and recognized him as the APC state party chairman, even though his council ward had suspended him from the party. This, according to Onjeh, the NWC did despite Mr. Agada not appealing against his suspension at any party level and obtaining a reprieve from appropriate organs of the party. “The only defense he gave against his suspension from the party by his ward is that the ward chairman ceased to hold his position because he is a caretaker councilor. The APC constitution clearly states that EXCO members can hold caretaker positions concurrently with their posts in the EXCO. Therefore, Agada has no defense. From the foregoing, it is doubtless that the NWC is responsible for the ongoing imbroglio in the Benue State chapter of the APC,” alleged Onjeh.

The former fiery student activist, who held the position of President of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) from 2002 to 2003, equally informed the APC NWC that his petition to the National Secretariat was independent of the action taken at Mr. Augustine Agada’s ward, and that it was also not in contention in court. Therefore, the National Secretariat has to live up to its responsibility in line with Article 13, and Article 21 of the APC Constitution.

“In line with both aforementioned articles, I am giving the NWC seven days within which to attend to my petition. Failure to do so shall leave me with no option than to seek redress in a competent court of law where I shall ask the court to compel the APC National Chairman and all members of the NWC to resign because they have failed to uphold the party constitution. And the NWC cannot stop me from this course of action as it lacks a whiff of moral rectitude,” posited Onjeh.

Onjeh stated that in the face of the weighty allegations he leveled against Mr. Agada in his petition, it was disappointing that the NWC breezed through, or ignored them, and issued a contrary directive. By this act, according to Onjeh, the NWC has compromised its integrity. “If it cannot address a straight-jacketed issue such as the one raised in my petition, which was replete with compelling material evidence, even mentioning the names of the current deputy governor of Benue State whom Mr. Agada approached on behalf of Sen. Moro, and Mr. James Ornguga (the Organizing Secretary of the party who witnessed the swapping of my agents), both of whom can validate my evidence, then its members have no business representing us in that organ of the party. They should therefore resign. The party’s national chairman, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje, should take ultimate responsibility for the NWC’s failure and resign as well,” noted Onjeh.

The APC chieftain opined that ignoring a credible petition makes a mockery of the NWC, because a lower party organ, a council ward, acted promptly in accordance with the party constitution and treated the petition within the stipulated timeframe, adding that siding with Mr. Agada sets a wrong precedence for the party and our nation’s democracy. “The APC Constitution stipulates that once a pronouncement has been made by a council ward if you are not satisfied with it, you should go to your Local Government Exco and appeal. From there on to the State EXCO. And, until you are cleared at the state level, you stand suspended. The NWC knew this constitutional procedure and yet it circumvented the Constitution,” stated Onjeh.

In a related development, Com. Onjeh fingered a top ranked federal appointee from Benue State to be the one behind the current crisis in the Benue State APC. He added that if the members of the NWC searched their consciences, they will find that the hand acting from behind is the one influencing them. “They should be bold enough to tell that big name that what he is supporting is evil. They should be bold enough to decline his request to them and to tell him that what he is supporting is evil and that it will kill the Constitution which is the binding force of members,” stated Onjeh.

Onjeh asked how a state party chairman could take money from APC coffers and pay the same into a rival party candidate’s account in the heat of a campaign. He added that in his petition, he provided ample evidence of this; including tellers, receipts of transfers etc. And yet, the NWC turned a blind eye to it and swept Mr. Agada’s misdeeds under the carpet. Onjeh further stated that he also presented evidence in his petition to prove that Mr. Agada’s antiparty activities led to the APC losing his polling unit and ward during the presidential and National Assembly polls in the last general elections. Whereas he (Onjeh), on the other hand, mobilized voters in his senatorial district and gave President Tinubu votes that were at least two-thirds of the ones he obtained in the entire South East Geopolitical Zone.

“What is the point of establishing a political party? Any student of political science will tell you that, from POL 101, the fundament objective of a political party is to capture power. That is why the highest offence any party member can commit against a party is antiparty activities. Yet, Mr. Agada was caught red-handed and the NWC is dilly-dallying with the case because it is in bed with the big name that is fighting progressive APC members in Benue State,” alleged Onjeh.

Noting that the APC at the national level prefers the confederacy of the dark forces that held back the development of Benue State since the inception of the fourth republic, Onjeh stated that the party’s current alignment has pitched it against the majority of Benue State people. He added that the good people of the state wondered why the NWC was hell-bent on dragging it back to the socioeconomic quagmire it used to wallow in with past administrations in the state. He noted that before the advent of the current administration of Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Alia, there was nothing on the ground to show the presence of governance in the state since 1999.

“During past administrations, year in and year out, it was the brazen looting of public funds and sharing of the same among a few political and civil service elites. Going by this, we had expected Dr. Ganduje, who performed well in terms of infrastructural development when he was governor of Kano State, to give his full support to Governor Alia. Now that I am fighting for my rights, the same people who held the state down for decades are trying to blackmail Governor Alia by saying he is using the fight for my rights as part of a proxy cold war he is prosecuting against a certain godfather.”

Onjeh stated that he knew his rights and how to seek them without the prompting of a third party, adding that the insinuation that Governor Alia was using him to prosecute a proxy was part of a grand scheme to undermine the governor. “The transducers behind it should know that the governor is the leader of the party in the state. And what is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. All other governors are leaders of their parties in their states. Governor Alia’s case cannot be different. He is on course as he tries to move Benue State forward. What some of his detractors could not do (pay civil servants’ salaries and gratuities) he is doing with ease. He is even clearing the backlog of wages and entitlements past administrations owed to staff and retirees.

“Contrary to the lies the NWC is being fed, even though the party provided a platform for Fr. Alia to contest for the governorship of Benue State, he, as a reputable priest for over 32 years came to the political scene with his clout and influence and enabled us win elections all over Benue State. If his clout did not help the party win elections in 2023, why did the party not win in 2019? Everybody in APC, from top to bottom, the high and mighty, lost elections in 2019. All the APC senators failed to regain their seats in the 2019 elections. Fr. Alia came to save the APC in 2023. His candidature helped to neutralize the propaganda around the Tinubu/Shetima Muslim-Muslim ticket. His presence in the political fray facilitated the winning votes Tinubu obtained in Benue State.

Com. Onjeh informed the APC NWC that Governor Alia had committed to serving the people of Benue State in accordance with the principles and manifesto of the APC. Hence, he expects the national leadership of the APC to support him, rather than joining hands with his traducers to sabotage him.

“If, as detractors of Benue State allege, Governor Alia is sending me to fight at the vanguard of his battles with certain vested interests, who then is sending Mr. Agada to withdraw party election funds to sabotage my election? While election funds for Zone A and Zone B were deployed for the purpose they were meant for, Mr. Agada withdrew and withheld all party funds meant for elections in Zone C. Who sent him to do that? Assuming (but not conceding) that Governor Alia is sending me to do this after I have tabled my argument, who sent Augustin Agada to withdraw and withhold that money? Who sent him to send money to my opponent, Senator Abba Moro (the current Senate Minority Leader), in the heat of the campaign? Who sent him to change all my agents after I had paid for their enlistment?” asked Onjeh.

In the nine-page letter to the APC NWC, Onjeh alleged that in aligning with Mr. Agada and the puppeteer handling him, the NWC’s action had given credence to the rumour making the rounds that a top federal appointee from Benue State has promised them federal government appointments if they downplay Mr. Agada’s suspension, by deliberately ignoring the petition against him before them.

“The NWC cannot, and dare not, announce the suspension of anybody who ignores their kangaroo directive. It cannot pronounce any disciplinary action against any conscientious objector because it has desecrated the Constitution, the very document from which it derives its powers. It is embarrassing and disappointing for the NWC to do what it did,” stated Onjeh.

Onjeh was further of the view that the NWC’s compromise has exposed the fact that Augustine Agada did not sabotage his election as a lone wolf, but as a part of a pack, noting that some members of the Benue State chapter of the APC have for long been working with Senator Moro to launch attacks on the person of Governor Alia. He urged Mr. Agada and his puppeteer to know that the incumbent governor of Benue State, Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Alia, is the leader of the party in the state, and there cannot be two party leaders in one state.

The only way the APC NWC can redeem itself, in Onjeh’s opinion, is to reconvene, and according to the party constitution, set up a fact-finding committee to attend to his petition, after which the Committee should submit its findings to the NWC. Onjeh said this is what the NWC should do, rather than being in cohorts with dark vested interests to undermine Governor Alia. “How the NWC treats my petition and the progressive APC members in Benue State will define our relationship with it going forward. Its dilly-dallying on the petition issue has been causing the party national embarrassment,” stated Onjeh.

In his concluding paragraphs, Onjeh alleged that he was one of the few people that built the APC in Benue State from the scratch, noting that he joined the party from the Action Congress (AC) before it transformed to the Action Congress of Nigeria (CAN), a legacy party that together with others, merged to form the APC. He added that in 2010, he was solely responsible for the payment of ACN membership registration forms for all the party members in Benue South.

“How can an opportunist who came to reap the benefit of our sweat and blood become the party chairman and, using the party we built, sabotage my election? It is not done. And the NWC is comfortable with this malfeasance? The members of the NWC have no business being there if they cannot protect the rights and interests of party members. They have lost total credibility. They should resign from their position along with the national party chairman,” stated Onjeh.

Copied in Onjeh’s letter to the NWC were His Excellency, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, APC National Executive Committee; The APC Board of Trustees and His Excellency, Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Iormem Alia, the Executive Governor of Benue State.