Minister for special duties and intergovernmental affairs, Senator George Akume, has appealed to all members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Benue State especially the newly inaugurated Gubernatorial Campaign Council to work in synergy to give the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) a final burial in 2023.
The minister also accused the PDP-led government in the state of ineptitude in all areas of leadership, saying the council was designed to prepare them towards the task of liberating the state from the many years of misrule.
The former governor of the state who stated this in Makurdi the Benue State capital during the inauguration and one day retreat of the Benue State Gubernatorial Campaign Council of APC charged them to avoid mistakes of 2019 elections.
Akume said, “Our elections are from top to bottom to ensure that all our candidates win comprehensively. We need to close ranks to avoid the mistakes of the 2019 elections, by being united and focused. As opposition in the state and working against a mischievous group that is ready to use all the resources of the state to stop us from liberating our task, we need to work in synergy with all our stakeholders and Benue people who have already embraced our winning team. Their house is already divided, we only need solid commitment amongst ourselves to bury them.
“Our focus must not only be on the best team that can move the country and state forward, but those who can carry everyone along irrespective of religion, region and ethnicity. As a people, we need to rescue our state from the failed PDP and its leaders that are only interested in primitive accumulation of all our resources. The time to stop the pillage of our collective resources which has turned us into slaves and beggars is now. We have a choice to change the narrative.”
He said with the combined teams of Tinubu/Shettima at the national level and Alia Ode in the state, Nigeria and Benue will take their rightful places as prosperous and developed entities.
The minister said, “We must return our people to the farms with improved technology. We must ensure that our civil servants enjoy the fruits of their labour. We must ensure that the labour of our heroes’ past shall not be in vain by paying pensions and gratuity accrued to them. We must know our state salary wage bill. There must be transparency and accountability in governance. We shall know our collective desires and ensure that we achieve it for the good of all.
“I am very positive that the Alia/Ode team will improve our infrastructure. There will be a rebirth in our infrastructural fortunes. The improvement of our rural communities through deliberate policy of improvement of basic amenities must be the core of the administration. Revenue generation must be done transparently and through legally certify means.”
