The Minister of Water Resources and Sanitation, Prof. Joseph Utsev, on Friday called for a peaceful conduct of the National Assembly primaries of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Benue State and across the nation.

Prof. Utsev made this call while fielding questions from journalists at the party’s state secretariat in Makurdi, where he monitored the distribution of electoral materials to the 23 Local Government Areas of the state.

The Minister commended the orderly manner in which the materials were being distributed and expressed optimism that the exercise would be free, fair and credible.

“I am here in Benue State to witness and participate in our party’s APC primaries, which commence today (Saturday) across the country.

“I came to the APC secretariat to see how everything is going, and I have seen that people are collecting electoral materials in an orderly manner.”

“I pray that there will be peace and a conducive atmosphere to carry out free and fair primaries.

“I hope that at the end, party members will be happy with the candidates they choose to represent them in the 2027 elections”, he stated.

Also speaking, the Benue State APC Chairman, Benjamin Omale, assured party members of the readiness of the party to conduct peaceful primaries, noting that adequate security arrangements had been put in place to ensure the safety of officials and electoral materials.

Alluding to the Minister’s visit to the party secretariat, Omale said the APC remained open and welcoming to all party faithful.

“This is the home that accommodates all party faithful, so everyone is expected to pay respect to the party, which is supreme.

Everyone is welcome, and we are moving towards reconciliation. The governor is doing well in preparing the ground for everyone to remain in the party.

“The security agencies are fully on ground, and I am confident that at the end of the exercise, it will be successful”, said Omale.