Benue PDP suspends chairman, 2 other officials

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Benue State has suspended three members of its State Working Committee (SWC) for one month, effective immediately, over alleged misconduct during its recent ward congresses.

The suspended officials are State Chairman, John Ngbede; State Secretary, Joseph Nyam; and State Organising Secretary, Moses Audu.

Bemgba Iortyom, the State Publicity Secretary of the PDP, announced in a statement on Monday that the decision was made during an extraordinary meeting of the SWC on Saturday with nine out of the 13 committee members present and that they consented to the suspensions.

However, in a swift response, John Ngbede claimed he was unaware of his suspension. “I’m not aware of that. Is Bemgba Iortyom the publicity secretary? Are you people (journalists) not aware that he was suspended from the PDP? I don’t know the PDP he is speaking for,” Ngbede said.

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Iortyom’s statement noted that the suspended members face allegations of forging and impersonating the SWC to further personal agendas, instigating violence during the ward congresses, and mismanagement of party finances.

The affected officials are required to appear before the party’s disciplinary committee to address these charges within the suspension period.

The statement said Isaac Mffo, the state deputy chairman, will serve as the acting state chairman of the PDP pending the outcome of the disciplinary committee.

Meanwhile, Ngbede contended that Iortyom had long been suspended by his ward and therefore was not the legitimate publicity secretary of the party.

He added, “We didn’t have any meetings, and there was no SWC meeting, so where did they get the authority to suspend the chairman?”