APC Chairman Under Probe Over Alleged High-Handedness, Finances

Chairman of All Progressives Congress, APC,  in Benue State, Abba Yaro, has appeared before the party’s North Central Zone Fact Finding Panel probing allegations of anti-party activities, financial recklessness, high-handedness and arbitrary expulsions of party members, among others, leveled against him in Lafia, Yaro stormed the North Central zonal office, venue of committee sittings in Lafia, with all the 23 local government chairmen of the party in Benue and other party stalwarts as well as supporters.



It would be recalled that APC leadership in the zone had last week, constituted a five-man investigative committee, headed by Barrister Muhammed Liman from Niger State, to investigate the party chairman.

Yaro, who claimed he was not aware of the petition and that the petitioners did not serve him with a copy, asked the committee to give him and his lawyers one week to study the content of the allegations.

Reacting, Chairman of the Panel, Barrister Muhammed Liman, granted the plea and gave Yaro five days to file his defense.

“In the spirit of our party constitution,    the committee has given you up to Monday, August 14, to filed your defence,’’ Liman said.

He assured that all the parties    would be given fair hearing without fear or favor.

Earlier, one of the petitioners, Johnson Agada, had told the panel that Yaro was responsible for the party’s inability to field candidate for Ado/Ogbadibo/Okpokwu federal constituency during the 2015 general election to make it possible for Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, candidate to win the election.

Agada also tendered a Federal High Court judgment ruling that ordered the chairman (Yaro), to return the sum of N2.4 million party nomination fee and pay a damage of N1 million to the candidate for not presenting him to INEC.

Another petitioner, Frank Utoo, claimed to have contested the primaries for Makurdi/Uma Federal Constituency and alleged that the party chairman replaced his name on the eve of election with a dead person to pave way  for another candidate during 2015 election

Utoo said:  “Two of us contested the primaries and I won, later the chairman submitted the name of Senator George Akume’s gateman in Asokoro, Abuja, to Independent Electoral Commission, INEC. ‘’They later reported the death of the candidate (gateman) to INEC and replaced him with Dickson Takgir who is occupying the seat now.”

It will recalled that a political group, under the aegis   of Concerned Benue stakeholders of the All Progressives Congress had petitioned the North central zonal office   against the Benue State party chairman, Comrade Abba Yaro, over what they described as gross violation of party constitution