Mr. Abba Yaro (Left) receiving Mr. Hingah Biem (Right) with supporters to the APC
By Emmanuel Elijah
A former governorship aspirant in the Social Democratic Party,SDP, in Benue State, Mr Hingah Biem Saturday September, 5th 2020 led hundreds of his supporters to defect to the All Progressives Congress, APC.
The event which held in the Mbakyaan council ward at Taraku in Gwer Local Government Area, was witnessed by all the EXCO members of the party in the state and attracted all the party stalwarts and supporters of the APC across the state.
Receiving the defectors, the state APC chairman, Mr Abba Yaro who described Mr Hingah Biem not only as a good man but as a grassroots politician whose joining the APC was a plus to the party, assured that they would not discriminate against him or his supporters who followed him to the party.
According to the chairman, ” I commend you and your supporters for defecting to the APC at the right time because this is the Ark of Noah on the sea now carrying believers, so it is left for you to now join or we are going to close the gates”, he enthused.
Mr Yaro thanked all the party faithful for their faith in him as it was because of their support for him that he had remained the longest serving APC state chairman in Nigeria today, assuring that as long as he remained the chairman of the party in the state, he would continue to conduct free and fair primaries so that the people would always choose who they wanted.
In his address, the guest speaker of the occasion, Hon Paul Biam who extolled the virtues of the leader of the defectors as someone whom he had known for a very long time, said Mr Biem was defecting to the APC not to jostle with anyone, but to team up with them so that they would build a virile and united Benue.
Hon Biam cautioned the leadership of the APC that ” many would be coming to join the party and there would also come a time when there are going to be closets as well, resulting to explosion which has to be properly managed because if you do not and carry everyone and put into basket, it would explode and the essence of joining the party would be lost”, he submitted.
Other speakers on the occasion including representative of the Minister of Special Duties, Sen George Akume, chief Akange Audu, chief Richard Asema, Hon Titus Zam, Dr Iorwuese Ligom, Ambassador Dickson Akor, Hon Benjamin Adanyi, representative of Herman Hembe etc in their separate remarks, commended Mr Hingah Biem for taking the right step in the right direction at the right time.
They stated that he was coming to add value to the APC, and not be a liability and that the PDP which most of them left for the APC, lacked internal democracy, was built on dictatorial tendencies and also that they would not want to be hoodwinked anymore, stressing that they would support Mr Biem and together they will build a formidable team for sustainable development in Benue State .
In his reaction, Mr Hingah Biem who disclosed that his sojourn with his supporters to the SDP was a misadventure, and now that it was ended, they were coming to the APC not to struggle for leadership but to add value because the state has been dragged into the mud and needed a change for the better.
Mr Biem thanked the leadership of the APC and all its members for the show of love for him and his supporters, saying they will not disappoint them in their show of commitment to the party and Gwer people for always standing by him.
