A governorship aspirant of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Benue State, Dr. Jeffrey Kuraun, has urged the party’s national leadership to either nullify the recently conducted governorship primary in the state or recognise him as the rightful winner.
Governor Hyacinth Alia was declared winner of the APC governorship primary after polling 367,786 votes. Other contestants in the exercise include Terwase Orbunde, who secured 3,247 votes, and Kuraun, who got 2,923 votes.
Speaking with journalists in Abuja on Thursday, Kuraun rejected the outcome of the exercise, insisting that the primary election held in Benue last week lacked credibility, transparency and fairness expected of a ruling political party.
He alleged that the process was manipulated and failed to represent the genuine wishes of APC members spread across the 276 council wards and 23 local government areas of the state.
Kuraun further maintained that among all the aspirants, he was the only one who fully complied with the APC guidelines ahead of the primary election.
“Prior to the primary election, I duly submitted the comprehensive list of my ward and local government agents to the APC Governorship Primary Election Committee at the APC State Secretariat in Makurdi. The submission was formally acknowledged by the committee.
“To the best of available evidence, no other aspirant submitted such comprehensive agents’ lists covering all 276 council wards and 23 local government areas.
“Most importantly, I was the only aspirant with agents physically present and verifiably deployed across the field during the exercise. This fact is supported by extensive pictorial and video evidence taken across the wards and local government areas in Benue State.
“Our agents and supporters were visibly present, mobilised, and prepared for the democratic exercise. They wore identification tags, coordinated party faithful, and waited for the distribution of election materials in anticipation of a credible process.
“Unfortunately, what followed was deeply disturbing,” he stated.
According to him, election materials allegedly failed to reach many designated ward centres despite reports that they left Makurdi around 1:00 p.m. for distribution across the state.
“My agents and supporters across the 23 local government areas patiently waited at their respective ward centres for the arrival of election materials, which reportedly departed Makurdi at about 1:00 p.m. for onward distribution to the designated wards. However, in many instances, these materials never arrived at the approved ward centres for the conduct of the primary election.
“Instead, reports and evidence later showed that the materials were taken away or found in the possession of certain government appointees and individuals outside the designated electoral process.
“This unfortunate development ultimately created room for the diversion of election materials to unknown locations and opened the door for the falsification and fabrication of results without actual voting taking place in many areas.
“I challenge anyone claiming victory in that exercise to publicly provide authentic video or pictorial evidence showing actual accreditation, voting, counting, and collation processes across the 276 council wards of Benue State,” he said.
Kuraun also disclosed that he had activated the party’s internal dispute resolution mechanism in line with APC guidelines but claimed that members of the appeal committee became unreachable when he attempted to file his complaint.
“However, when it became time to formally file my appeal before the Governorship Primary Election Appeal Committee, the committee members became unavailable and could not be found anywhere despite repeated efforts by myself, my representatives, and my legal team to reach them.
“It is my firm belief that this deliberate unavailability was calculated to frustrate my constitutional and democratic right to seek redress within the party framework.
“Faced with this obstruction, I had no option but to forward my appeal through DHL courier service to the National Chairman of the APC, with copies duly sent to the National Legal Adviser.
“The complaint was officially acknowledged at the office of the National Chairman on 25 May 2026. Regrettably, up till this moment, I have neither received any formal response nor been invited for any meeting, hearing, or discussion concerning the complaint filed.
“On 27 May 2026, I further sent a formal reminder and pre-action notice through my solicitors, again urging the party leadership to urgently address the complaint before the expiration of the statutory timelines applicable to pre-election matters,” he added.
The APC aspirant insisted that many party supporters turned out across the state expecting a transparent primary process and warned against suppressing their participation through manipulation.
He therefore called on the APC National Working Committee to either conduct a fresh governorship primary under independent supervision or declare him winner of the contest.
“In view of the overwhelming irregularities, absence of transparency, denial of due process, and the failure of the exercise to meet acceptable democratic standards, I respectfully call on the National Working Committee of the APC to:
“Cancel the purported governorship primary election conducted in Benue State on 21 May 2026 and conduct a fresh, transparent, and independently supervised primary election.
“Declare me, Dr. Jeffrey Kuraun, the valid winner of the primary election based on the undisputed fact that I was the only aspirant who substantially complied with the party’s stipulated preparatory requirements for the conduct of the exercise, including the duly acknowledged submission and deployment of agents across the 276 council wards and 23 local government areas of Benue State, as well as the overwhelming turnout and visible participation of my supporters across the state despite the failure of election materials to reach the designated ward centres.
“Benue deserves credible leadership recruitment processes, not manufactured outcomes. Internal democracy remains the foundation upon which public democratic legitimacy rests. Once internal democracy collapses, governance itself becomes endangered,” he said.
