Reported by: Ijeoma G | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
A former Speaker of the Benue State House of Assembly withdrew from the APC primary election for his constituency on the morning of May 20, 2026, alleging that result sheets had been filled before voting and that election materials never arrived at polling centres where winners were nonetheless declared. By the afternoon of that same day, Hyacinth Aondona Dajoh, the lawmaker representing Gboko West State Constituency, had formally defected to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and was received into the party by former Governor Samuel Ortom, the leader of the PDP in Benue State. The rapid sequence of events — withdrawal, condemnation of the primary process, and defection — laid bare not only a personal political realignment but also the depth of internal crisis within the APC in Benue, where disputes over the conduct of primaries have become a recurring feature of election cycles.
Dajoh’s decision to quit the APC primary was announced in a statement issued by his media aide, Agber Kulugh. The former speaker cited “alleged manipulation and lack of transparency” that, according to the statement, had characterised the ongoing APC primary elections across Benue State. Dajoh claimed that in some locations, result sheets were completed before voting exercises commenced, while in other areas electoral materials did not reach designated voting centres even though winners were being announced. He insisted that participating in the State House of Assembly primary under such conditions would amount to legitimising a process he believed lacked “credibility, fairness and democratic integrity”. Despite his withdrawal, he expressed appreciation to supporters, delegates, stakeholders, youths and women across Gboko West Constituency and Gboko Local Government Area.
Hours after withdrawing from the APC primary, Dajoh formally defected to the PDP in Makurdi on the same day, May 20, 2026. He was received into the opposition party by Chief Samuel Ortom, the immediate past governor of Benue State who now serves as the leader of the PDP in the state. Ortom’s personal role in welcoming the former speaker signalled that the PDP was actively consolidating the defection of disgruntled APC figures ahead of the 2027 general elections. Dajoh attended the PDP senatorial primary election also held on Wednesday as a critical stakeholder from Gboko, where Chief Mrs Eunice Ortom was affirmed as the party’s senatorial candidate. The former speaker restated his commitment to “the politics of inclusiveness, unity, community development and, most importantly, the welfare of the people,” adding that his political decisions would always be guided by “the collective interest of the people of Gboko West and Benue State at large”.
Dajoh’s withdrawal and defection do not exist in a vacuum. His resignation as Speaker of the Benue State House of Assembly on August 24, 2025, came barely 48 hours after the assembly suspended four lawmakers — including Alfred Emberga — over alleged conspiracy. Emberga later succeeded Dajoh as speaker, and on the same day that Dajoh withdrew from the APC primary, Emberga emerged as the APC candidate for the Makurdi North State Constituency after securing the highest votes in the primary conducted across five council wards. Dajoh’s defection follows a pattern of high‑profile political migrations in Benue. In October 2025, a member of the House of Representatives representing Apa/Agatu Federal Constituency, Ojema Ojotu, dumped the PDP for the APC, citing perennial crisis in the PDP. In March 2026, the Minority Leader of the Benue State House of Assembly, Abu Umoru, also defected from the PDP to the APC, giving fresh support to Governor Hyacinth Alia’s administration. These back‑and‑forth defections have constantly altered the political balance in the state.
Benue State has become a laboratory for pre‑electoral realignments, and Dajoh’s defection is the latest signal that the fight for control of the state’s political landscape is far from settled. The APC primaries in Benue have been fraught with controversy. On May 18, 2026, at least seven House of Representatives members lost their APC return tickets. On May 19, two aspirants in the APC House of Representatives primary for Otukpo/Ohimini Federal Constituency rejected the outcome of the exercise, alleging that “no valid primary election took place” and that a preferred candidate was being imposed on the people. The lingering political rift between Secretary to the Government of the Federation George Akume and Governor Hyacinth Alia has also played out in the primaries, with Akume’s loyalists suffering major losses in the National Assembly contests. Against this backdrop, Dajoh’s decision to step out of the APC entirely and seek refuge in the PDP, under the direct patronage of former Governor Ortom, reads like a calculated move to preserve his political future in a constituency where party machinery is increasingly contested.
As of the time of this report, the APC leadership in Benue State had not issued an official response to Dajoh’s allegations of pre‑filled result sheets and missing election materials. The former speaker’s appeal to his supporters to remain calm and peaceful suggests that the political fallout of his defection may yet unfold in the coming days. What remains certain is that on May 20, 2026, a former Speaker of the Benue State House of Assembly took a public stand: he would not validate a primary process he considered flawed, and he would not remain in a party where, in his view, internal democracy had been sacrificed. By sunset, he had switched camps. The 2027 elections in Gboko West will now be fought under a different banner, and the people of the constituency will watch to see whether the promises made on the day he crossed the floor will be kept when the campaign season truly begins.
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