Makurdi — The Deputy Governor of Benue State, Samuel Ode, has dismissed reports alleging that a reconciliation committee of the All Progressives Congress (APC) endorsed automatic tickets for National and State Assembly members, describing the claim as false and misleading.
Speaking with journalists on Tuesday in Makurdi, Ode, who chaired the communique drafting committee, said the document being circulated did not reflect the committee’s conclusions.
According to him, the purported communique was only a draft still undergoing review by key stakeholders, including Governor Hyacinth Alia and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume.
“There was a reconciliation meeting on May 3, 2026, convened by the Governor and the SGF, after which a communique drafting committee was set up. It is important to emphasize that ours was strictly a drafting committee. We prepared a draft and forwarded it to the Governor and the SGF for their inputs and approval,” he said.
Ode stressed that the committee never discussed or approved automatic tickets for any category of lawmakers.
“At no time in our communique did we mention automatic tickets for National Assembly members, State Assembly members, or anybody for that matter. We never discussed or approved anything like that,” he added.
He further clarified that the committee lacked the authority to sign or release any final communique, noting that only the conveners of the meeting—the Governor and the SGF—are empowered to endorse such a document.
“It was not our duty to sign on behalf of the conveners. What we produced was a draft. So how someone took our attendance register, attached it to a so-called communique, and released it to the public is quite intriguing,” he said.
The Deputy Governor also noted that the APC National Vice Chairman (North-Central), Mu’azu Rijau, had clearly stated during the meeting that the party had adopted direct primaries for candidate selection, a position he said contradicts any suggestion of automatic tickets.
“There is no way we could have contradicted that position by inserting automatic tickets into the communique,” he said.
On the reconciliation efforts within the party, Ode described the process as ongoing.
“Reconciliation is a journey, not a destination. The fact that stakeholders came together to talk is already a significant step forward,” he noted, expressing confidence in the party’s electoral prospects.
Also speaking, the Governor’s Chief of Staff, Moses Atagher, corroborated Ode’s position, stating that the SGF did not advocate automatic tickets at the meeting.
“Even the SGF did not mention automatic tickets throughout his speech. He only expressed a desire that current lawmakers could be retained, subject to the party’s constitution and guidelines,” Atagher said.
He described the circulation of the draft document as premature and driven by desperation, stressing that the final communique had yet to be endorsed.
“If the Governor and the SGF convened the meeting, and their signatures are not on the communique, then who will implement it? They are the authorized signatories, not the drafting committee,” he added.
As of the time of filing this report, the official communique from the reconciliation meeting had not been released.
© 2026, Standard Focus. All rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express written permission from STANDARD FOCUS.