Benue: Gov Alia, APC gladiators’ crisis deepens
The crisis within the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Benue State may not end soon as the leadership of the party and supporters of Governor Hyacinth Alia continue to engage in a war of words.
Both factions had claimed there were no cracks on the wall of the APC in the state, but utterances from both sides have proven otherwise.
It’s believed that a bitter rivalry exists and that the crux of the matter lies on the doorsteps of the governor and his “godfather”, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator George Akume, over the control of the party structure in the state.
Alia had said there was no rift between him and Akume, and the SGF has been mute about the matter while his foot soldiers insist that all is not well. Both men were even sighted together at the SGF’s Makurdi residence during his birthday celebration on December 27.
A chieftain of APC in the state, Philip Agbese, representing Ado/Okpokwu/Ogbadibo Federal Constituency, confirmed the rift between the Benue caucus in the National Assembly and Gov Alia.
The National Assembly caucus believed to be loyal to Akume had penultimate week taken a swipe at the governor at a press conference in Abuja before their return to Benue for the SGF’s birthday ceremony.
Agbese, while fielding questions from journalists in Makurdi, alleged that the disagreement between the federal lawmakers of Benue origin and Gov Alia was based on his failure to fulfill campaign promises to the electorate.
He said, “Yes, there is a rift. If this disagreement between us and the governor on policy issues and party manifesto does not in any way suggest there is a rift, then I wonder what is rift. But if I still understand English, there is a major disagreement between us and His Excellency, the Governor of Benue State, which he is very much aware of and he has continued to pretend over the issue.”
Spokesman of the governor, Tersoo Kula, however, dismissed the allegation raised by Agbese, saying his principal had demystified governance to the admiration of the electorate.
Our correspondent reports that despite the allegations and counter allegations over the battle being currently fought on all fronts by the loyalists of the “big men”, one thing which political observers believe that the tussle is about who controls the soul of the party in the state.
The first trace of trouble in the thinking of many is not unconnected with the over N3bn missing fund which is believed to be the leftover of the party’s campaign fund for the state.
Also, the emergence of the House of Assembly’s speaker formed a major disagreement in the APC family after the governor’s choice, Hyacinth Aondoana Dajoh, emerged against the SGF and the state’s party executive anointed Becky Oprin.
But when the controversy over the National Assembly’s senate decision to withhold local government allocations of unelected councils leadership across the country came to the fore, all hell broke loose among gladiators of the APC in Benue who laid bare their grievances.
Daily Trust on Sunday had reported how the senate unanimously resolved that the federal government withheld allocation of funds to councils in the country without democratically elected officials following a motion brought to the floor by Senator Abba Moro (Benue South).
Recall also that the administration of Gov Alia sacked the elected officials in all the 23 LGAs of Benue State shortly after assuming office and appointed caretaker committees in the last week of November.
Sequel to the Senate’s resolution, the Benue State Government called on them (Senate) to rescind the decision on withholding allocations
of local governments in the country without duly elected officials.
Tersoo Kula, spokesman of Gov Alia and Dennis Akura, the Special Adviser on Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs in the state, urged the Senate to review its decision because it was taken in a haste.
To this end, the fight which started as a mere grumbling within the APC members, therefore, became messier as both sides joined in the ring in an attempt to undo each other.
Consequently, the state government, through one of its appointees on Youth Mobilisation and Empowerment, Mkeenem Moses, stirred the already muddied waters when he called for the resignation of the APC state Chairman, Austin Agada, after the party chairmen in all the 23 LGAs held a meeting during which they distanced themselves from the appointment of the caretaker chairmen put in place by Gov Alia.
It was gathered that the party was aggrieved because the governor allegedly jettisoned their input into the constitution of the committee members. The development further sparked off name-calling between the party leadership, believed to be doing the bidding of Akume, and Alia’s men.
Consequently, the APC itself alleged a plot by some officials of the Benue State Government to sponsor a protest against President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
The State Publicity Secretary of APC, Daniel Ihomun, had in a statement made available to journalists in Makurdi, said the planned protest was in an effort to discourage Tinubu from giving effect to the Senate’s resolution stopping the release of funds to local government caretaker committees in Nigeria.
In a swift response, Kula cautioned Ihomun not to be racing ahead with a fire stick, stating that, “His (Ihomun) recent press releases consistently indicting government officials and raising alarm of a planned protest against
President Tinubu, the Senate president and the SGF is a mischief that is very uncommon.
“The indistinct tumult from a section of the leadership of APC in Benue State, which at first was construed to be the reaction of the party after the appointment of local government caretaker committees has ‘distrustingly’ snowballed into some frantic attempts to create chaos in the state and even threats to unseat the governor.”
Not long after that, interest factions under various groups joined in fanning the embers of discord while others tried to sue for peace.
For instance, a group, Benue United Minds (BUM), vowed to resist attacks capable of hindering development of Benue State.
Dr Ugbir Yanmar Abel, BUM’s convener, expressed their commitment to being a guiding voice for the state, emphasising the need for unity, progress and peace, as he contended in Makurdi that they as the masses of Benue rejected distractions and would actively contribute to Alia’s governance by vehemently opposing attacks aimed at hindering his transformative efforts.
In another development, the elders of APC in the state, who referred to themselves as “Three Wise Men” - APC zonal chairmen of Zones A, B and C in the State Working Committee of the party - faulted the governor for relegating the party to the sidelines when making appointments.
Bishop Pinot, the state Vice Chairman of Zone C, who spoke on behalf of his Zone A counterpart, Vincent Uji; and James Tor, the Vice Chairman of Zone B, recalled that the shaky relationship between Alia and his party started in June, last year during the inauguration of the state assembly.
Pinot said that the governor had preference for a candidate for the position of speaker but did not confer with the leadership of the party, but rather allowed the party to painstakingly sit and zone the position and anoint a candidate that was not his choice.
He also fingered the inability of the governor to let the party make inputs into his commissionership, as well as selection of council caretaker chairmen, as part of issues which snowballed into anger.
He added that contrary to speculations, Akume had not mounted any pressure on the governor, just as the party too had not asked him for money except his monthly dues to the party which he (Alia) had not obliged to them since he became governor.
For a former Senate President and indigene of Benue, Ameh Ebute, the crisis of the APC in Benue State was all about leadership.
Ebute said, “I want to tell you that the problem of our party in Benue State is that of leadership. Who is the leader of the party in Benue? That is the main issue. What is the position in other states of the federation where we have a governor in power? The governor of that state is the leader of the party in the state.”
Earlier, rising from a concerned APC elders stakeholders meeting at the Government House in Makurdi, a communique was issued and read to journalists by Ebute.
Ebute, flanked by Senator Barnabas Gemade and Major General Lawrence Onoja (Rtd), among others, urged party chairmen and State Executive Committee (SEC) to sheath their swords pending when the matter was amicably resolved, while observing that the unfortunate incident by the APC LG chairmen opened a vista for the opposition to take full advantage, culminating in a recent motion sponsored by an opposition (PDP) senator from Benue against the Government of Benue State.
In the meantime, Gov Alia has continued to insist at public functions that nobody should attempt to divide the ranks of the APC in the state, maintaining that anyone who wanted to toy with his administration would be tagged “enemy of the state” and that people of the state would not succumb to such antics.