Daniel Onjeh, the senatorial candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for Benue South in the 2023 general elections, has filed a petition with Abdullahi Ganduje, the party’s national chairman, accusing Austin Agada, the state chairman of the ruling party, of engaging in anti-party actions.
The Benue State APC Chairman and his “acolytes rigged the 2023 senatorial election in Benue South” in favor of the Peoples Democratic Party, or PDP, according to Onjeh’s appeal, which was seen by the reporter.
Onjeh clarified that the APC’s loss in the zone’s senatorial and presidential elections was due to purported anti-party activities, raising questions about how the party managed to win three House of Representatives seats while trailing in the polls.
“Apart from the 2023 General Elections in Benue South, where a particular party won three out of four House of Representatives seats in a senatorial district; and yet lost the senate, it has never happened in any other election,” Onjeh said, referring to the history of elections in Nigeria.
The APC Chairman is charged by the former Chairman of the Projects Development Institute, PRODA, Enugu Governing Board, of taking money from party mainstays to support opposition candidates’ campaigns.
With the purported financial transaction receipts attached, Onjeh claimed to have found unshakeable proof that Agada had lavishly contributed money to the campaign of an opposition candidate who, he claimed, had gone on to win the election.
“On the 5th of December, 2022, at 9:19am, in the heat of the electioneering campaign for the 2023 polls, Mr Agada transferred the sum of Five Million Naira (N5,000,000.00) only to a third party, (name withheld) and via an SMS, instructed her to transfer the same to an opposition candidate.
The woman instantly deposited the aforementioned sum into the candidate’s bank account.
“In addition, at 3:48 p.m. on December 8, 2022, Mr. Agada transferred an additional N4,000,000.00 to the same individual and instructed her, via SMS, to transfer the funds to the opposition candidate.”
But Mr. Austin Agada asserted in a conversation that he was not aware of the motivations behind Onjeh’s claims.
Agada put it like way: “I don’t want to get into arguments with Onjeh. Where that is coming from is unknown to me.”
