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MAKURDI – Ojema Ojotu, representing Apa/Agatu, Federal constituency, at the House of Representatives (HoR), has described the primaries of the All Progressives Congress (APC), which were held in the state, as the first primary elections that have been without violence.
Ojotu, who is also the candidate for the APC in the forthcoming general election, having secured the seat during the National Assembly primaries, held in the state, boasted that he does not see anyone defeating him at the polls, come 2027.
Speaking with newsmen at the Benue APC secretariat, after monitoring the presidential primary elections, the parliamentarian thought that anyone who picks the APC ticket and becomes the candidate of the party in the state has 75 percent assurance of winning at the 2027 general elections.
Ojotu pointed out that, “You will agree with me that in the history of primary elections (in Benue), this is the first time election of this magnitude will be conducted in this state, without hearing that somebody’s head was broken.
“We are not even talking about death, and as you can see, everywhere is quite peaceful. People are going about very happy, and the happiness and the excitement you are seeing on the faces of the people is a clear indication that the outcome of the elections shows that it was exactly the desire, aspiration, and yearnings of the people.”
He added that “You can also agree with me that this is a ruling party, a party that is in power, and everybody is aware that when you have the ticket of this party, you are 75 percent close to success.”
He, however, argued that, on the contrary, it was not well with other political parties, who are battling with internal wranglings, as well as other teething problems, some of which are associated with the conduct of their party primaries.
“But other political parties, like ADC (African Democracy Congress), that are doing their own thing, you can see that there are a lot of problems; you see people blocking other people on the roads, snatching ballot papers, and all that.
“And that, there was no case of snatching of papers anywhere that has been reported, it shows that this party (APC), indeed, under the leadership of the able, performing Governor of Benue State, His Excellency Governor, Rev Fr Hyacinth Alia, is doing a very wonderful job in terms of party administration.”
“And I can also tell you for free that with the kind of turnout we saw during the primary election, I don’t think we even need that number to win the general election.
“For my own, when I got to my local government, it looked like a crusade. The entire community was out to cast their votes for me. And of course, it has been like that today.
“So I think if you win, of course, the primary election, under this kind of atmosphere, you can just sleep, knowing fully well that at that time people will come and repeat what they have done.”
Insisting that no political party, including the PDP, is a threat to his return bid to the Green chambers, Ojotu said, “If you ask me whether PDP will be a threat, I will ask which of the PDP? Is it the PDP of Turaki or that of Wike? So I think if we have that answer, you will be able to know exactly how to answer the question.
“I was a member of PDP. I won the election on the platform of PDP, and of course, it got to a point that we saw that we started having issues, so at the end of the day, we left.
“And when I left PDP, I left with all the structures of PDP in my constituency. So when you put that force and join the force together with that of APC, I can’t see how anybody will be able to withstand you”, he stressed.
