Bid for Benue North Senatorial Slot Sets Suswam, Gemade on Warpath
Governor Gabriel Suswam of Benue State and Senator Barnabas Gemade are at daggers drawn over who picks the Benue North Senatorial ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party, reports George Okoh
It is no longer news that Governor Gabriel Suswam of Benue State and Senator Barnabas Gemade, the senator for Benue North East senatorial district, are at daggers drawn over who picks the Peoples Democratic Party ticket for the senatorial seat ahead of next year’s general election. What is, perhaps, news is the transfer of the rift to the 50th birthday party in honour of Suswam held last Sunday in Makurdi. The issue here is the absence of President Goodluck Jonathan at the event.
Ordinarily, the absence of the president would not have meant much but for the fact that both are close friends and the president was expected to use the occasion to commission four projects recently completed by the Benue State governor. Speculation has been rife as to why the president did not attend the birthday party, and this has been attributed to issues bordering on the faceoff between Suswam and Gemade.
Speculation
Since the conclusion of the recent ward delegate election where Suswam’s men dominated the delegates’ list, Gemade has tended to take the battle to retain his seat to the presidency and the PDP national leadership in Abuja. Gemade has been accused of being speculative on the issue of Abuja giving him an automatic ticket.
The president was alleged to have given Gemade and 39 other senators automatic PDP tickets to contest their positions at the general election. ”So when the president did not make it to the birthday ceremony, it was believed that the president was avoiding the governor to forestall any confrontation,” a source told THISDAY.
However, Suswam’s media consultant, Dr. Cletus Akwaya, said the absence of the president did not need to raise any dust, stressing that an important international function came up for the president in Ghana.
Akwaya said, “You will recall that the president of Ghana was in Nigeria for the commissioning of the new Akwa Ibom stadium and so the president may have reciprocated by honouring him, too. But outside this, the president hardly attends governors’ birthdays. It was only because of his relationship with Suswam that he accepted to come but because of other exigencies he could not make it.”
He said people should desist from playing politics with a situation that did not warrant such.
“The president sent his Chief of Staff and functionaries like the national chairman of PDP, Adamu Muazu, Senator David Mark, governors and ministers were present, so why the hue and cry?”
Senatorial Battle
For Gemade, the battle to retain the position he has held since 2011has generated so much debate since Suswam declared his interest in the senatorial race.
On the eve of the delegates election, Gemade was accused via the state radio station of distributing fake delegates nomination forms, which he allegedly obtained from the PDP headquarter in Abuja.The PDP state chairman, Dr. Emmanuel Agbo, condemned the action and asked members of the party to reject the alleged fake forms.
But while Gemade was at the party secretariat on the day of the congress engaging the state chapter of PDP over the authenticity of his forms, a new set of forms from the party’s national secretariat were brought and distributed to various zones, including the Benue North East. The forms were said to be filled based on consensus arrangements in the zone.
With the current situation in the Benue North East, Suswam’s nomination by PDP looks almost. He has been adopted by the stakeholder in the seven local government areas that make up Benue North East zone.
Suswam set the ball rolling in his quest to dethrone Gemade, when he declared his intention and obtained the PDP nomination and interest form for the position just a few days after Gemade had done the same. Suswam’s form for the race was purchased by a team of prominent elders from the seven local government areas in the zone, namely, Kwande, Ushongo, Vandeakya, Konshisha, KatsinaAla, Ukum, and Logo.
The elders who had thronged the banquet hall of Government House, Makurdi, in their hundreds were led by a former lawmaker and elder statesman, Chief Atoza Ihindan, Second Republic legislator, Hon. Ugbah Uye, Dr. Aker Gajir, and Senator Joseph Akaagerger, among others. Ihindan, who spoke on behalf of the elders, noted that the development was driven by the elders’ trust in Suswam owing to the rapid development of the state under his watch.
According to Ihindan, “At this crucial period when every part of the country is looking up to the best to make a case at the centre for them, it became obvious that Suswam, too, is highly needed in Abuja and we cannot afford to delay this.”
Ihindan said the decision was a collective resolve of the party elders.
Zoning
Also spokesperson of the PDP Elders forum in Vandeakya local government, Senator Jack Gyado, said the incumbent senator, Gemade, only asked for one term, which is the eight years of the Jechira people. He said for the sake of equality in the zoning formula revered by Tiv people, Gemade should pave way for the rightful beneficiary of the seat, which had already been loaned out to Suswam, to go ahead.
Gyado said, “Gemade cannot fool the people as Akargerger had it for four years, and he (Gemade) insisted that we should allow him complete the remaining four-tenure of Jechira’s original slot so that as former chairman and BoT member he will at least have a respectful political tittle in Nigeria. Gemade’s time is up.”
Over 20 elders, among whom were Gyado, Ugba Uye, Akaazua Muemue, Edward Ujege, Chief Awuhe, and Akargerger witnessed the ceremony performed by the traditional council led by HRH Chief Dyako Atseer to seal the agreement with the governor.
The governor has also set up a formidable campaign structure led by a former member of the House of Representatives, Chief Terfa Ati, which also includes the likes of Senator Jacob Tilley Gyado, Senator David Iornem, Chief Atoza Hindam and other prominent members of the zone.
Speaking on why he wants to replace GemadeI, Suswam said, “I went to the House of Representative because the people in my constituency felt that they needed a young man who has shown signs of good representation and they overwhelmingly voted for me at the age of 32. They re-elected me and in 2007, I contested among very many people, some heavy weights, but my people still felt that I will provide good leadership and they elected me governor. I am going to exit next year and the people in my federal constituency feel very strongly about this that with the leadership that I have exhibited in the previous elections that they have given to me, it wouldn’t be right for me to just leave office and go and engage in other things, but I should go ahead and serve at the national level, in the senate. Since they are the people who have been electing me, if they now decide overwhelmingly that I should go to the senate, of course, I will respect that. So I am in the contest and I am going to put myself through the democratic system. I am not saying that they should go and declare me as the only person; I am not going to ask that they should ask any person to step down for me. If there is an incumbent senator and he also wants to contest, let us go to the field. I am ready to go to the field with him; I am not under any intimidation at all and so I am in the contest. I am going to run for the senate and put myself before the democratic process, which is that of primaries and general elections.”
Gemade
On his part, Gemade believes the people are pleased with his representation. He said, “Since the beginning of this democratic dispensation in 1999, l am the third senator representing the Benue North-East in the senate. When my constituency compared notes and saw how effective l have been in representing them, they thought that there has been certainly a great change in the way l have represented them. For that reason, they think that my representation should be for a reasonable period of time in the National Assembly. That is why they are rooting for me to go back to the senate and represent them for another four years beginning from 2015. They consider four years as a minimum requirement for an elective position if someone is doing well. Of course, if you are not doing well, they won’t bring you back.
“Secondly, my work at the National Assembly, as you already know, is a pointer to you that l am an active senator. I have been involved in several motions and bills on the floor of the senate and in the oversight functions of my committee.”
However, pundits believe it would be difficult for Gemade to get the PDP senatorial ticket for next year’s election. Of the seven local government areas in the Benue North East zone, the former national chairman of PDP is expected to make strong impression in Konshisha and Kwande. This is because he is from Konshisha where he has a strong influence. Yet, he will also be contending with top array of Suswam’s men like Akargerger,Mr. Mathias Byuan, Edward Ujege, and others, who are in charge of the PDP machinery in the council area.