Benue APC primaries: Onoja’s son, other challenge David Mark’s daughter’s victory

Lawrence Onoja Jnr, son of former Principal Staff Officer to the Chief of General Staff, the late Major General Lawrence Onoja (retd), and another aspirant, Andrew Abu, on Tuesday challenged the outcome of the House of Representatives primary election in Otukpo/Ohinmini Federal Constituency of the All Progressives Congress, won by Blessing Onuh, daughter of former Senate President David Mark.

Major General Lawrence Onoja (retd) served as Principal Staff Officer to the Chief of General Staff, the late General Oladipo Diya, during the General Sani Abacha military administration.

The two aspirants in the just-concluded APC House of Representatives primary election submitted their petitions at the party secretariat in Makurdi, challenging the election of Blessing Onuh.

The primary election was held on Saturday across the state.

Four aspirants contested in the Otukpo/Ohinmini Federal Constituency, and Onuh was declared winner of the exercise.

Speaking with journalists at the party secretariat on Tuesday, the aspirants alleged that election materials were hijacked by supporters of Onuh.

They also alleged that the votes allocated to the winner were higher than the number of registered members in the two local government areas.

Onoja said, “The election that held on Saturday in the first instance violated the zoning arrangements because we want the zoning to be respected, and also instead of conducting the election at the various council wards as it ought to be, the venue of election was moved to a hotel.”

In his submission, Abu, who corroborated Onoja, said, “The zoning arrangements should be respected, in fact, the votes allocated to Blessing Onuh was more than the total registered members in both Otukpo and Ohinmini federal constituency.”

The duo, who expressed optimism that the appeal panel would look into their petitions and do the needful, however, warned that the party may be sliding into crisis if urgent steps are not taken to correct the anomalies.

The development has also revived long-standing political rivalry between their fathers, who at various times contested the Benue South senatorial district seat, with David Mark defeating Lawrence Onoja in all instances.

In 2007, both Onoja and Mark contested the Peoples Democratic Party senatorial ticket, which Mark won. In 2011, Onoja defected to the Action Congress of Nigeria and again challenged Mark in the general election but lost.

In 2015, Onoja declared his intention to contest the PDP senatorial ticket for Benue South but later stepped down, while Mark emerged the party’s candidate.