The Consensus Chairman-elect of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Benue State, Omale Omale has declared that under his leadership, the party will not defend any individual, or group of persons indicted by the anti-corruption agencies.
Omale, a legal practitioner, was reacting to a statement by the factional Chairman of the Party, Mr Austin Agada over mounting calls on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to probe Senator George Akume, Minister of Special Duties and Intergovernmental Affairs.
Akume is linked with weighty allegations of misappropriation of Benue State public funds to the tune of N4.56 billion when he served as Governor of the state from 1999 to 2007.
In a recently issued statement, a copy of which was obtained by our medium, Omale declared that “our party under my watch as the incoming State Chairman upon the determination by the National Secretariat and or any other authority, must in addition to providing a credible alternative political platform to the Benue people to form a government that will be truly people based, must at all times also submit itself to scrutiny, to be held by the very standards they profess.”
He said accountability should not be trivialized with party boundaries. “We shall in the main, engage the leadership of the Benue State government objectively, rationally and with credible and realistic people based programmes and policies in a manner that the manifesto of our party provides and as advanced by the APC-led federal government,” he declared.
The Chairman pledged to provide leadership for the service of the party with total allegiance to all but to no single individual, no matter how highly placed, stressing that the party subscribe to the natural policy of accountability by those who served and now offer themselves in public service.
The statement further reads: “we shall not unduly overheat the polity but mobilize our stakeholders in leadership to create an engaging party through purposeful activities that will enable our supporters and the Benue people buy into our ideology of a truly progressive political party that offers more good than other political parties.”
“We shall not take advantage of our members by arm-twisting them for our personal gains. We shall not extort our party men and women who aspire to leadership.”
“We shall not use our contacts or closeness to any individual to abuse the very constitution and structures of our party and country.”
While calling on his supporters to remain calm, Barrister Omale who is the outgoing State Legal Adviser of the party said the law must and shall always take its full cause for the good of every one.
“We shall be patient for service and respect the very constitution of the party that we as members of the party seek to serve.
“To our supporters, we continue to call for calm, as we remain optimistic that justice is on our side and will certainly be served,” the statement added.
