barcanista:
Germade? Well I have interacted with some people from Benue state just to sample opinion, they see no difference between Gemade and Suswam. With PDP deep rooted in Benue State, APC needs someone with a cult-like following to defeat the Governor, they don't need someone who is equally seen as failure to defeat a failure. The election will be a battle of who rig most. The police, army, dss, ncsdc, state machinery plus lots of money will be at the Governor's disposal. He will intimidate Germade, bribe electorates and observers(if necessary) and will win landslide. People will not bother to protest because they never believed in Germade in the first instance, and trust me, most Ayabam supporters will be willing to cut deal with Suswam just to spite APC and Germade. Suswam is a Governor, he can easily negotiate at whoever initiative. Bros, this move may tell on the governorship poll if care isn't taken. APC need to learn some political moves from PDP and Tinubu. Like I earlier said, you don't lose "loyal" supporters overnight just to please an emergency decampee, not in an election period.

barcanista:
I totally condemn this Barnabas Gamade candidacy. This man has been a flop in the Senate, he was pdp top boss, he was fully part of the rot. He's no way a progressive. APC should not allow aggrieved pdp to come from nowhere and hijack the party. This is madness, I totally condemn it and I wish his epic fail

NgeneUkwenu:


If APC is serious about winning Benue State, this the kind of "evil" they need! Grassroot politician to the core! No time for Campaign!

We need to defeat jonathan in the first ballot! I don't need any rerun!

barcanista:
the honourable Big Man, I greet you o. How you de?

barcanista:
Germade? Well I have interacted with some people from Benue state just to sample opinion, they see no difference between Gemade and Suswam. With PDP deep rooted in Benue State, APC needs someone with a cult-like following to defeat the Governor, they don't need someone who is equally seen as failure to defeat a failure. The election will be a battle of who rig most. The police, army, dss, ncsdc, state machinery plus lots of money will be at the Governor's disposal. He will intimidate Germade, bribe electorates and observers(if necessary) and will win landslide. People will not bother to protest because they never believed in Germade in the first instance, and trust me, most Ayabam supporters will be willing to cut deal with Suswam just to spite APC and Germade. Suswam is a Governor, he can easily negotiate at whoever initiative. Bros, this move may tell on the governorship poll if care isn't taken. APC need to learn some political moves from PDP and Tinubu. Like I earlier said, you don't lose "loyal" supporters overnight just to please an emergency decampee, not in an election period.

champol:
Pls. Who wins APC primary for Benue south(Zone C)?

torkaka:


.......................both Suswam and Gemade are held low amongst Benue people . . . . . .fact. . . . . . . . . .there is no Benue person that will put Suswam over Gemade (ask the people you sampled again) . . . . . . . . . .fact . . . . . . . . . . . . . .the last election in Benue wasn't a landslide win for PDP (infact, it is widely believed APC won) . . . . . . . . . . . . .if Ortom was the governoship flagbearer for PDP, then you might have a point, but he is not and a known mediocre carries the flag . . . . . . . . . . . . . .in Benue, atleast in zone A and B, apc is more rooted in the grassroots than PDP . . . . . . .fact . . . . . . . . .time will tell

barcanista:
I don't understand your logic. How do you determine who controls a particular political constituency? Who controls the political structure in zone B between Suswam and Gemade when he was in PDP? Did he(Germade) move to APC with the structure of PDP? Who controls the APC structure in the zone? Is the strongman of APC in zone B aligned to Germade? Are members of APC that were eying that post aggrived?(Most likely), do you know what protest vote is? Do you think a "common" unpopular senator can stop the rigging machine of an incumbent governor with all the political and state resources at his disposal plus federal might? The APC is repeating 2011 scenaro when it gave exPDP member and then incumbent Senator Akaagerger her ticket, PdP Gemade beat him in the contest, now exPDP's Gemade(incumbent) has moved to APC to challenge Governor Suswam. I'm not a prophet but Suswam will win. Sad but true! A popular candidate should have been preferred.

torkaka:


[b] . . . . . . . .Gemade is zone A not B. . . . . . . . . .there are seven LGA's in zone A, of the seven . . . . . . .ukum, logo, K/A, are PDP strongholds . . . . . . .Kwande is a stronghold of APC (even though the Rep who has now lost out, defected to PDP earlier in the year) . . . . . . . .ushongo is APC (Ayabam's area) . . . . . . . . .vandeikya is 50/50 . . . . . . . .konshisha (is Gemade's house) . . . . . . . . . . . .Gemade's influence will solidify vandeikya and assure konshisha . . . . . . . . .what you are left with for PDP is ukum, logo and K/A . . . . . . . . . . . .ukum and logo are the smallest LGAs population wise in that zone . . . . . . . . . .the biggest being vandeikya, kwande and K/A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .structures: if Suswam had the structures, how did vandeikya, kwande, and ushongo end up with APC state assembly members? . . . . . . . . . .Gemade has brought in his homeland structures of konshisha to add to that . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Akaagerger and Gemade are from the same place . . . . . . . . .when Gemade won that election, he wasn't Suswam's candidate, Suswam's candidate was Mathias Byuan who lost the primary election . . . . . . .fact . . . . . .so how is it Suswam's structures as a sitting governor did not assure Byuan? . . . . . . . . . .do the math[/b]

barcanista:
in 2007, Amosun lost to OGD. In fact Amosun came third behind Daniel and Dina, but in 2011 Amosun won Daniel's candidate. In 2007 Iyabo won Ogun Central, but in 2011 she lost the same Ogun central. In 2011 Akala was the PDP's candidate but in 2014, he lost the candidacy to Teslim Folarin. In 2003 Kwankwaso was the PdP candidate in Kano and incumbent Governor, he lost. In 2007 the same Kwankwaso could not even advance in PDP primaries, he became the candidate in 2011 and won. In 2011 Ayo Fayose contested and lost Senatoral bid, in 2014 he was elected Governor. My point is what happened in 2011 may not necessarily repeat itself in 2015. In 2011 Barnabas Gemade wasn't an incumbent, his party was incumbent and his governor was campaigning for his party. His governor wasn't interested in his seat and he doesn't have that strong political footing as at then. Now his governor is in his 2nd term, he's deploying his resources for the seat and is backed with Federal might. He cntrols the pdp in benue, he has planted his loyalists and might also have won sone others over. Such privilege gemade do not enjoy. Both are failures so the electorates won't help here, it will be a game of rigging. Don't forget, someone may be aggrieved in APC and their supporters. Meanwhile, if the council chairmen are pdp then it is over for gemade. He will be stunned ! His only saviour may be the masses but he doesn't enjoy cult following. You can't beat an incumbent governor of pdp in the rigging game... It's their specialty.

barcanista:
who are the pdp? In kwara state for instance, Saraki and Balgore did a swap. Saraki was pdp, Balgore was AC/APC. Today, Saraki will say PDP has faile(which he was). My point is that defectors should nt be given party structure, they can be used as a catalyst to return buhari to power. Why I am hopeful of APC is because of people like Buhari, Fashola, Amosun, Ajimobi, Kwankwaso, Ogbonaya Onu and few others.

barcanista:
I totally condemn this Barnabas Gamade candidacy. This man has been a flop in the Senate, he was pdp top boss, he was fully part of the rot. He's no way a progressive. APC should not allow aggrieved pdp to come from nowhere and hijack the party. This is madness, I totally condemn it and I wish his epic fail

kokoA:
Current events in Benue politics shows that it will take a miracle or massive rigging for PDP to win. The only positions sure for PDP as it stands is zone C senate (David Mark) and a couple of house of reps from Zone C and Zone B.

It is going to be 50/50 between Seswuam and Gemade. They are both experienced riggers with one (Gemade) having more experience than the other, though Seswuam has the money and power to counter Gemade's experience in rigging. The perfect picture for this contest is Manchester city (Seswuam) vs say Real madrid (Gemade) in UCL.

The only positive of Gemade's decampment is that APC's governorship votes will be protected in zone B. . We all know zone A is and will remain APC stronghold courtesy Sen. Akume, PDP has no chance here at all. Zone C is strictly PDP both for legislative and presidential elections, but can swing to APC for governorship. This is because Sen. David Mark will want nothing to do with Seswuam's candidate. He actually instructed his delegates to vote for Lawani yesterday.

torkaka:


. . . . . . .you clearly do not understand Benue politics, Suswam had the local government chairmen in 2011, frustrated Akume out of PDP and used all his resources to make sure Akume does not win the election . . . . . . . . . .it didn't happen . . . . . . . . . .Akume trounced PDP mercilessly. . . . . . . . . . .Suswam doesn't have any structure, he has never won a primary election without others bending the rules to help him . . . . . . . . .Benue PDP is in disarray, the man with the grass root structures is Ortom (unarguably, you can ask any from Benue) and he has been cheated, most of his supporters have already started pitching tent with APC's Jime . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ayabam was fully carried along with Geamde's decampment . . . . . . . . . .Suswam is not a name you can sell to the ordinary villager in Benue . . . . . . . . . .you can beat an incumbent PDP governor, the same scenario played out in Bauchi years ago . . . . . . . . . . .the exact same scenario!!!

YEMOYEMI:


I think he is needed to increase number of APC members in the senate as I believe he has what it takes to defeat Gabriel at the general elections because of Gabiel's non-performance. Gemade may be a flop as you said but he will be useful before being discarded.

Obiagelli:


I agree with you, the temporary solution is to weaken the pdp as much as possible. I think that's why the likes of umana and gemade were accommodated.

barcanista:
Useful in what way? If you are to factor every variables it isn't a right step for the APC on the long and short term. Imagine PDP denying Jonathan their tickey and give the ticket to Lamido. Jonathan defects to APC and the ticket is handed to him at the expense of Buhari, Atiku, Kwankwaso etal. What will happen to supporters of the short-changed APC aspirants? Do you think thy will all thumb-print for APC and Jonathan? What will be the disposition of other candidates? Another question is, what and what is Jonathan bringing to the table? What happens to the party image? What happens to loyalty?

barcanista:
What do that make APC? A desperate party or a disloyal party? The interests of members that had worked and sustained the party should be paramount and not sacrificed to reward failures in the name of weaken pdp. How is pdp weakened? Me think the APC is the party that has been weakened in Benue and Akwa Ibom states. I have my reasons and if I was a voter, I won't vote the party in both states for the Senate and Governorship respectively except Presidential(if GMB is given ticket)

barcanista:
What do that make APC? A desperate party or a disloyal party? The interests of members that had worked and sustained the party should be paramount and not sacrificed to reward failures in the name of weaken pdp. How is pdp weakened? Me think the APC is the party that has been weakened in Benue and Akwa Ibom states. I have my reasons and if I was a voter, I won't vote the party in both states for the Senate and Governorship respectively except Presidential(if GMB is given ticket)

YEMOYEMI:


Dear Brother, the case of Gemade is completely different from Jonathan defecting to APC. At this point we are in, APC presidential candidate will emerge from GMB,Atiku,Rabiu, Rochas and Sam. Even if GEJ is rejected at the last minute by PDP, he can never make it in APC. We condemn not only the PDP but GEJ also as an individual. Any member of the PDP at other levels who feel aggrived or schemed out can move to APC and join forces to defeat their brothers and sisters and when the time comes, we shall sepaare the chaff from...............................

Obiagelli:

Well i don't know benue too well but what happened in AKS is distasteful.

States like benue and kogi have a thing for failed leaders, if Apc capitalise on that, i won't blame the. Election is about winning anyway.

anonimi:


E be like sey your eye don dey clear small, small.

barcanista:
We need to voice our displeasure so that party chiefs will know the position of Nigerians. Applauding them in such shame isn't helping the party and Nigeeria's democracy. This is actually what led to the fall of ANPP and a major reason the opposition is weakened. Failed PDP Politicians will start seeing APC as an alternative platform to realise their ambition, party chiefs will fall to the whimps of highest bidder, and the elections will be a thing of PDP vs PDP(in APC clothing).

torkaka:


. . . . . . . . . .Engr. Gemade is 66yrs sir . . . . . . .thank you

laksyde100:
Along the way he will change because CHANGE is constant thing in life