The Benue State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has kicked against the approval of N6,644,778,900 for the state’s forthcoming local government elections slated for October 5, 2024.
News About Nigeria reports that the Benue State House of Assembly had approved Governor Hyacinth Alia’s request of N6,644,778,900 to conduct the LG elections on Wednesday.
Following Governor Alia’s request, the State House of Assembly, in a unanimous voice vote during Wednesday’s plenary session presided over by the Speaker, Hyacinth Dajoh, approved N6.6bn for the LG polls.
Reacting to the swift approval of the governor’s request, the PDP questioned the justification for such a huge budget, noting that it is a waste of taxpayer money for an LG poll that might never even hold.
The party, in a statement by its immediate past publicity secretary, Bemgba Iortyom, on Wednesday night, described the N6.6bn budget for the LG poll as ‘another chunk of money down the drain.”
The statement reads, “What is the justification for spending over N6 billion on local government elections when the party, APC, is embroiled in a series of crises? While the house was passing the supplementary budget, it’s unclear which of the factions of the party was to submit the list of candidates for the election in the state. At the end of the day, such money will be voted but the exercise may not hold and if it does, I am very sure that litigation is going to be the end product.
“Instead of wasting taxpayers’ money, Alia should have sanitised the local electoral process in the state by putting to rest the crisis bedevilling the APC in the state to an extent you cannot recognise whether it’s still a political party or association of people scrambling for crumbs. To us in PDP, we see it as another chunk of money going down the drain.”
