HomeBenue NewsThe mob of APC and Gov Alia’s 'sins'

The mob of APC and Gov Alia’s ‘sins’

By Ben Atonko

It started like a steam out of a tea kettle. Now it has snowballed into a thick dark clouds of smoke spiraling and billowing into the sky. The bellowing at the governor of Benue State, Hyacinth Alia has got to all the corners of the state. Even with their continual denials, it is apparent that war is raging.

What is responsible for this? those who are not in the know may ask. Several things are behind it – chief among them is urge to exercise power, desire to dip hands into public till and greed.

And the dramatis personae keep making it messier. Ironically, it is really interesting to onlookers.

The political crisis in Benue Sate which is more like an intra-party thing could be described as a mob against the governor of the state. It can be called the All Progressives Congress (APC)’s mob against Alia.

Those familiar with the character of the Nigerian politician knew from the onset that Alia would face an arduous path — a grueling swim across the River Benue.

This weapon we see today was fashioned when Alia threw his hat in the ring. They objected to his being governor saying they are the owners of the state and no unknown midget like Alia would wop them on their turf. They said he is not a politician and would not do well in that office.

Some of them said over their dead body, an Alia would be governor. They fought with all arsenal at their disposal to stop him. We may recall, the APC primary election that produced Alia was conducted three times following orders by the APC national leadership and the court.

The role played by Secretary to Government of the Federation (SGF) George Akume is interesting and instructive. Over a dozen persons wanted the APC ticket. Akume, it was who counselled them, getting them to understand that it was not just about standing for election but winning.

These hardened hearts refused to heed. They squandered millions of naira (N50million each) in the name of purchasing APC governorship Expression of Interest and Nomination forms.

Alas, they failed woefully! The mass of the party faithful voted in favour of the one whom they loved and trusted. And the battle line was drawn thenceforth. The rejected APC giants, carrying the sense of entitlement are pained and agitated.
As psychologists put it, entitlement fosters prestige and dominance motivation. These, in turn, create greater benign and malicious envy. This explains why the APC honchos and their disciples never see anything good in the Governor Alia-led administration and they constantly throw bricks at him.

The APC has done more opposition than the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Benue State. In fact, the umbrella party is like a spectator now.

Aside the claim by Benue Political Stakeholders that Alia is a no party man and a political neophyte, what truly are the sins Alia has committed?

One, he got the state assembly to elect a speaker against the interest of the party Leader. It was said that the SGF popularly called Leader of APC in Benue State had interest in Becky Orpin but the governor thwarted that. He worked for the emergence of Aondona Dajoh as speaker.

Of course, supporters of Leader viewed this as a show of rudeness and affront of monumental proportion to the dignity of Leader. Yet on many occasions, party people denied any rift between Alia and Leader even as they keep stoking the fire.

Two, appointment of men and women into public offices has been a cause of anguish. Typical of politicians, APC members, especially those who laboured for the victory of the party were hankering for rewards especially by appointment into “juicy” state offices.

Some of them had their eyes on certain positions, claiming that if not them, no one else would get them. They waited and waited without any word from the limpid Alia. And reaching the governor became increasingly difficult for them. These people became incensed, agitated and rabid. When you hear a Benue State APC member saying Alia is doing things without consultation, know you what truly is behind their mind.

Three, the palliative thing. When the Federal Government released money in what was popularly called Palliative for the Benue State people – to cushion the harsh impact of the fuel subsidy removal, APC considered this opportunity to discreetly enrich themselves.

The so called political stakeholders wanted the governor to invite them to a round table and allot to them portions of the palliative money so they would go to their local places and exhibit their heroism and superiority.

Unlike in other states where foodstuffs and cash were shared among politicians, the governor of Benue State chose to do something unique — taking a totally different path – not to give money to party people – but pay fees for public examination for schoolchildren. This was deliberately done to help not only APC but the entire Benue State people. Once a child is qualified to sit for the school certificate examination, they will benefit — it does not matter whether the parent(s) voted for Alia or not. He also decided to acquire vehicles for mass transport which has indeed, tremendously whittled down the powers of the transport cutthroats in Benue State. But APC leaders looked at this as show of wickedness by the governor.

The last straw that broke the camel’s back is the appointment of caretaker committees for the dissolved local councils. APC said the governor unilaterally made the appointments.

When the local council chairmen were sacked, APC supported it. They considered it opportunity for them to get into the council offices hitherto occupied by the PDP. That time, the opposition PDP was lamenting.
When the governor announced the caretaker committees for the councils, APC leaders became enraged and the war songs became louder.

A very senior member of the party could no longer hold it — he could not play the denial game any more. He did the governor an open letter laying bare the agitations of the Benue State APC pooh-bahs.

And since then it has been endless caustic and mordant recriminations between the APC and the governor. Meantime, the PDP is watching and enjoying the happenings in the ruling party.

In the midst of all this, the governor enjoys tremendous goodwill from the masses as they remain unshaken in their belief that Alia is indeed, the Benue State messiah. They have come up with a catchphrase “Alia doo” meaning Alia is good.

They can enumerate the achievements of the Alia-led administration and give no hoot to those condemning it.

They will say, in few months, the administration has renovated state assembly building, constructed roads, normalized payment of salaries and pensions etc. They equate the administration to a check on unbridled thievery in Benue State.

The governor on his part has remained resolute. He says he cannot be intimidated. A video circulating in the social media recently shows him telling enthusiastic supporters that nobody has absolute powers over Benue State.

It is not clear how far the governor can go in this his style of administration. What is certain however is, Alia has two options — he can hearken to the politicians, do their biddings, share state resources with them or he can assert himself, work with professionals and people of conscience to turn around Benue State. The choice is his.

Similarly, the APC has a choice to make. They can continue in their attacks and distract the governor from engendering peace and progress for the land already impoverished by high level insecurity and economic stagnation or leave him alone to do his thing.

One thing that is certain is by continuously doing what they are doing, APC will definitely undo itself. Strong as APC appeared before the general elections, we could see how good the PDP performed. As APC fights itself, the warriors must not forget that the PDP which was pushed out of power yesterday is still formidable and interested in returning into the Government House in Makurdi. Once out of power, the APC agitators will have nothing to fight for. They will be reduced to mere onlookers the way PDP is today.

  • Atonko wrote from Abuja (benaton200097@gmail.com)
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