In order to avoid a situation where the All Progressives Congress, APC, will not field a gubernatorial Candidate in Benue State, the party has settled on Chief. Engr. Barnabbas Gemade as its guber Candidate.

This was made known Tuesday evening by a source within the party in Abuja.

Recall that the party in Benue has been engulfed in crisis since the emergence of a suspended priest, Hyacinth Alia as its guber candidate, through a process that was described as a charade and sham by one of the gubernatorial aspirants in the state, Prof. Terhemba Shija, who alongside former Attorney General and Minister for Justice, Mike Aondoakaa, SAN, have dragged the party and Alia to court.

According to the source, the non-submission of the party’s membership register for Vandeikya local government, where Alia hails from has made it impossible for the party to maintain Alia as candidate as the suspended priest cannot be said to be a member of the APC.

It is also feared that, since the process that produced Alia was not in compliance with provisions of the Electoral Act, party members who have challenged the emergence of the suspended priest will win APC in court, even if they don’t, they may not support the party in the general election as they feel humiliated.

The source also disclosed that while the leader of the party in the state was rooting for Mathias Byuan to be the party’s flagbearer, Gemade, who is former national chairman of a ruling party and a former Senator, emerged as the APC choice and is to replace Alia as the gubernatorial candidate of the party in Benue State.

I will bring you more details later as the story unfolds.