By Fave Uzuku
The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Benue State came into the 2023 general election as one united family, unlike their main rival, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), that was enmeshed in internal wrangling.
It is an undeniable fact that the unity and wide acceptability of the party’s gubernatorial candidate, and now Governor, Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Iormem Alia, gave the APC victory in the 2023 elections. The Alia candidacy was a movement, and most of those that have been elected on the APC platform won largely because of the Alia-tsunami.
Many of the electorate in the state junked the other parties for the “Alia party.’’ The priest catalysed all the other elections in Benue State.
But things started going downhill after the composition of the leadership of the Benue State House of Assembly.
While the state EXCO of the party and those loyal to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) supported Mrs. Becky Orpin to become the Speaker, the Governor’s candidate, Hyacinth Aondona Dajoh, emerged victorious.
This did not go down well with the the SGF’s camp, and despite the frosty relationship, there was some form of mutual respect with open confrontations avoided.
And since then the Governor has held two separate APC stakeholders’ meetings, where issues concerning the party were discussed with solutions proffered.
During the last meeting in November 2023, the main agenda was the composition of the local government caretaker committees. The Governor had asked the stakeholders to select three names each from the 23 local government areas for the Chairmanship, Vice Chairmanship, Council Secretary, as well as for the Supervisory Councillorship positions. These were to be done based on zoning. The Governor had promised to select one name each from the list submitted to him.
Upon receipt of the names, the Governor acted as he had promised, except in a few local governments where there was unresolved disagreement by stakeholders over the choice.
Sadly, after the announcement of the interim executive committees, some stakeholders became angry.
Although save for two local governments, the names selected and appointed by the Governor did not come outside of the three names submitted by the stakeholders. There was an emergency meeting of the party’s local government and ward chairmen, and at the end the meeting, a communique was issued, where a vote of no confidence passed in the Governor, with the chairmen reiterating their unalloyed support for the President and the SGF, Senator George Akume.
To add to the absurdity of the communique by the local government chairmen, the state secretariat of the party came out with a statement accusing the appointees of the Governor of planning a protest against President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Senate President Godswill Akpabio and the SGF.
Looking at how things have panned out in the last few weeks, the party is obviously not fair to the Governor.
Although Akume whom the party seems to be more loyal to played a role in the emergence of Fr. Alia as Governor, the 2023 general elections in Benue State were won largely because Alia was on the ballot. None of the candidates garnered in their constituency more votes than Alia.
It was obvious that it was not only because of the Akume or the love the Benue people have for the APC as a party. This is what the leadership of the APC fails to understand.
There are clear indications that they feel the final decisions about state affairs should be taken by the party and the SGF, thereby undermining the powers of the Governor.
They seem not to understand that Governor Alia also played a role in the emergence of Akume as the SGF. It is no hidden fact that Solomon Lalong, the former governor of Plateau State, was ahead in the race for the position of the SGF after it was zoned to the North Central, and so was Sen. Barnabas Andyar Gemade.
The Governor pleaded with his colleagues to support Akume and it was easy for President Bola Tinubu to choose Akume. Yet, the Governor does not seek to have any overbearing influence on the decision making of the SGF.
What those undermining the powers of the Governor need to know is that already, the Benue electorates are viewing this brewing war as a conflict of interest between the general will of the people and that of the party stakeholders. The electorates feel the stakeholders are not happy now that the Governor has made their welfare a priority, especially the workers and pensioners.
Again, the fight if left to degenerate to another level, will give more credence to the accusations against the SGF that he always wants to have total control of the people he midwifes their emergence as Governors; a situation all of them end up protesting, and eventually abandoning him immediately they found their feet in government. And considering that he has had issues with Sen. Gabriel Suswam, Chief Samuel Ortom and now Alia, it will be very difficult to convince the people that the accusations are not true.
It is advisable that those trying to sow the seed of discord in order to benefit from the chaos, should have a rethink. They should remember that we have gone down this road before, from Suswam and Ortom. The state never got it right in the midst of the fights, and we wouldn’t want to miss this great opportunity the current administration has offered us as a state. The office of the SGF is such a big office, and we have to take full advantage of the perks that come with it. We must have our sons and daughters back into the Federal Civil Service. We must bring a federal presence to Benue. Let our people feel the presence of our son in such a special office.
On his part, the Governor has started well. Those with a disposition to plant and reap from political crises must resist the temptation to draw the state back to the scenario of distress and rancour. Reverend Father Hyacinth Iormem Alia must be allowed to fulfill the desire of the Benue public, who have been denied the dividends of democracy for long.
Already, the man has started reigniting the torch light the late Apollos Aper Aku shone on the Benue political landscape. Let those crisis merchants allow the Governor and the SGF to work together so that they can pick up from where Aper Aku stopped, and take the state to a higher pedestal.
The reality of the SGF and the Governor relating seamlessly to the glory of the state must be given the place and chance to bloom.
I have no doubt that the SGF is sophisticated enough to make up his differences with the Governor, more so that they are from the same party. This is not a new territory to him and those planting seeds of discord should please realise that Rev. Fr. Alia has the cerebral savviness to discharge his enormous responsibilities to the admiration of the state. What Benue needs now is unity and peace from all its illustrious sons and daughters. There has to be elite consensus, rather than elite conspiracy. The former will make the state, while the latter will break it.
The development of the state is a task that must be done. It is a swim or sink situation, and failure to take advantage of this dicey situation will break Benue State to bits and pieces. Such fragments will serve us no good. Nature and God have been kind to us, and we must rise up to the occasion. We have no excuse to fail this time round.
•Uzuku, a political analyst, writes from Makurdi