LG election: Otukpo PDP faction kicks against consensus candidate

A faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Otukpo Local Government Area of Benue State has kicked against the endorsement of the council chairman, George Alli, as a consensus candidate of the party in the forthcoming council’s election.

The group, known as Concerned Members of the PDP in Otukpo had staged a protest to the party’s state secretariat in Makurdi at the weekend, expressing shock over the current council chairman’s purported endorsement aired repeatedly on a radio station.

In a statement signed by Owoicho Anyebe, Patrick Ogbole and Inalegwu Ogbe, the group argued that three other chairmanship aspirants of the party had bought their nomination forms were duly nominated, screened and passed, and wondered why those aspirants would not be allowed to participate in primaries for the emergence of a popular candidate for the general election.

“Inasmuch as we accept that the party recognises consensus candidate, we also know that such candidate can only emerge through a process involving all parties concerned.

“We therefore disagree in entirety with this decision of the so-called caucus who are bent on destroying the party that was painstakingly built. It is not a decision and wish of the majority of the members of PDP in Otukpo area and does not in any way represent their aspiration,” the group said.