Hon Emmanuel Jime Addresses His Gubernatorial Campaign Team.THE BENUEAPC, THE MISSING LINK AND OUR HOPE .Please Find full text of addresshere.

(BEING BRIEFING BY RT. HON. EMMANUEL JIME, APC GOVERNORSHIP ASPIRANT DELIVERED TO HIS EXPANDED GUBERNATORIAL CAMPAIGN TEAM ON SUNDAY, 01 FEBRUARY, 2015 AT HIS CAMPAIGN OFFICE MAKURDI, BENUE STATE)


In two weeks time, the first round of the 2015 general elections shall be held. In that election, our voices will be heard, our choices shall be made. This is why I am here today to address the best campaign team I have ever had the privilege of working with: men and women whose commitment is second to none. I have benefited from your hard work. I see your loyalty. In my heart, i feel your trust. Truly, I have received your calls and messages and prayers all urging me to keep the path of honour. Even in our trying moments, our support has not depleted. Our faith has not waned. That, my friends, is the real change in this election.

When we toured all the 23 Local Governments with a message of hope for Benue communities seeking their support, we did so as democrats who believe that power belongs to the people. We told everyone, "Let Governance be about the people". We re-energised our Party. We appealed to students, workers and pensioners as well as farmers, the unemployed and indeed everyone concerned in the Benue Project even as we reached out to the rural communities. We pointed to my record as a basis for which they should believe we would do the things we were promising them. 

As a Campaign, we embraced tendencies nurturing, not altering, the ideals of true internal democracy.


But, as I address you today, let me briefly, chronicle our struggles from the primary elections we never had to where we are now.






On the 4th of December; 2014, our party, the APC, held her gubernatorial primaries in all States where elections are to hold in February this year.


Curiously, Benue State was exempted from this otherwise, national exercise. Reason: the leader of our party, Sen. Dr George Akume had sought and gotten approval from the APC National Chairman for the primary election in Benue State to be postponed to the 5th of December 2014. This postponement was ostensibly to allow for dialogue to arrive at a consensus candidate. No meeting was called to seek for this consensus candidate and consequently, by the next day, all aspirants and delegates had readied for the primary election.






On the morning of that Election Day (5th December 2014), we heard that the leader of our party Sen Dr George Akume had endorsed one of us running for the APC ticket, Chief Akange Audu as preferred candidate. This is within the rights of our leader and so, we did not begrudge him. We remained confident that we would secure the vote and secure our leader's blessings.






The voting eventually began after accreditation of all delegates. When 4 local Governments had voted and my humble self in a very clear lead, the vote was brought to a stop citing an injunction earlier secured by one of the aspirants. This injunction was ignored by the party leadership when served earlier in the day but was shopped for at dead of night to halt the primary. We thanked the delegates who had come from all over Benue State. They journeyed back to their various places.






The injunction was finally vacated on the 10th of December, 2014.






In readiness for the vacation of the injunction, the national leadership of the Party, clearly not un-mindful of the national convention of the Party holding in Lagos on the 10th of December but also aware of the non-negotiable place of party primary in a multi aspirant contest, sent a team to Benue State to conduct a primary election. Out of about 4,000 Benue delegates to vote in the APC gubernatorial primary, only about a 100 of them were expected to participate in the national convention. Still, the primary election was once again postponed at the prompting of our leader, Sen. Dr. George Akume to the next day being 11th December; 2014 and which was the deadline set by INEC for all party primaries.






By the next day, delegates were asked to go to HAF Haven Hotel for the Guber primaries. HAF Haven is a hotel owned by the wife of our leader, Sen Dr. George Akume. These delegates who had been in Makurdi for days, made it to the venue where they waited until later in the evening when the management of the hotel eventually chased them out. The Benue APC Guber primaries did not hold.






The following day, we woke to the shocking news that all 5 of us the bona fide aspirants had stepped down in favour of a new aspirant and entrant whose aspiration we only knew existed on the PDP platform where he contested in that party's primary on the 9th of December and had lost. The APC constitution is, however the degree of waivers to new members, very clear on how a consensus candidate should emerge. First, all other aspirants must willingly accept the emergence of one of them as the consensus candidate and accordingly indicate so. Without this condition, a primary election must hold!






Consequently, the 5 of us were immediately united against this malfeasance. We explored all internal mechanisms. We registered our grievances before all the National leaders of the Party. Not satisfied, myself, Chief JKN Waku, Chief Mike Iordye and Prof Steve Ugbah headed to the Federal High Court, Abuja.






Our persistence finally got to the National Leadership of the party and on the 11th of January, 2015, it called a meeting of all 5 bona fide gubernatorial aspirants to resolve the APC crisis in Benue State. The meeting ended with a signed resolution by all 5 aspirants that I was their consensus candidate! The meeting was conducted under the Chairmanship of the APC National Leader, Asiwaju. Ahmed Bola Tinubu with the following party officials and members also in attendance: Chief John Oyegun, APC, National Chairman; Chief Segun Oni, APC, National Vice-Chairman South West; Chief Hilliard Eta, APC National Vice-Chairman, South-South; Chief Bisi Akande, former Interim APC National Chairman; Chief Rauf Aregbesola, Executive Governor, Osun State; Dr Kayode Fayemi, Former Executive Governor, Ekiti State.






Still, we are in court. We have been in court since the 19th of December, 2014. We hold unto hope. We have prayed the court to right the wrongs done. Now that the strike action by the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria JUSUN has been called off, we foresee an early reversal of the injustice perpetrated against us. Much as I would have loved to elaborate on the matter, it would be prejudicing to the court of law. I can only assure you, we are in this together knowing that even if we do not fully recover our mandate, we would have changed our party for the better. Never again would delegates be treated as though they don't matter. If we let this be, if we negotiate for less, we would be encouraging impunity. We would have emboldened others to do the same thing to our children tomorrow.






I began today by reminding us of the election before us in just two weeks! I am here to announce and direct with immediate effect that, all of my campaign staff and structure, materials and vehicles in all the council wards and Local Governments of Benue State, be fully available to the Buhari Campaign Organisation to ensure the successful election of our party's Presidential Candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari on the 14th of February 2015. I urge all of our support groups to take up this challenge and vote for a leader whose primary election shines as a beacon of hope for internal democracy; a leader whose intolerance for corruption, we all applaud.






It is heart breaking and unfortunate how our Party Leaders at the State level refused charity to reflect at home even after witnessing the credible presidential primaries of our Party - the APC.






Finally, I thank everyone for their kind support. I value your support, your faith and trust and I cannot therefore in good conscience sit and negotiate to fulfil personal and selfish gains when you too have refused to compromise on your support of our cause. You have sacrificed for me; I shall continue to sacrifice for you too. I shall not disappoint you. There is more pride in a good name than in a big office.






Thank you very much and God bless you.






Rt Hon Emmanuel Jime


APC Gubernatorial Aspirant, Benue State







__,_._,___