By: Titus Akor, Makurdi.

The Governor of Benue State, Rev. Fr. Dr. Hyacinth Iormem Alia, has assured teaming supporters of the All Progressives Congress (APC) of a transparent and orderly conduct of the party’s presidential primary election across the 23 local government areas of the State and charged them to embrace fairness and credibility throughout the exercise.

Governor Alia gave the charge on Friday at the APC Secretariat in Makurdi while addressing members of the State Executive Committee, party faithful and stakeholders of the party, revealed that he has the mandate to coordinate the presidential primary election in the State and would also serve as the State Collation Officer for the entire exercise.

He further explained that the presidential primary would be conducted through the direct primary system, noting that the same method which had earlier been adopted for the party’s House of Representatives, Senatorial, Benue State House of Assembly and governorship primaries in the state.

According to him, the exercise would take place across all 276 wards in Benue State, with each ward serving as a voting centre for party members participating in the process.

Alia also presented the election materials received from the party’s national headquarters, stating that the materials had arrived intact and without any diversion. He noted that the materials had been packaged according to different levels of collation — ward, local government and state — to ensure seamless coordination of the process.

He announced that distribution of the election materials would commence by 6:00 a.m. on Saturday, with designated officers assembling at the party secretariat before deployment to local government areas and wards.

The Governor further revealed that the state party secretariat would serve as the venue for the final collation of results from across Benue beginning from 3:00 p.m. after voting.

On the contest itself, Governor Alia told party stakeholders that two aspirants had been cleared by the party’s screening and approval process to participate in the presidential primary. He identified them as Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Osifo Stanley.

The Governor Called for discipline and orderliness, urged party members to sustain the standard set in previous APC primaries in the state and ensure that Benue remains in national focus for positive reasons.

He emphasized the need for decency, transparency and social justice throughout the exercise and wished all participants success as they prepared to carry out the democratic process.