By Aare Abiodun Oluwarotimi
It is no longer news that Benue state under the leadership of Governor Hyacinth Alia is ridden with crisis, political battles and killings by sponsored Marauders.
No matter how the governor tries in his capacity to curb the killings in Benue state, his efforts may continue to yield little or no result until the actors behind the acts stop sponsoring killings in the state. As a matter of fact, they may continue to sponsor more deadly attacks on Benue villages to score a point which is to make the state ungovernable for Alia just like they tried to do during Suswam and Ortom’s reigns. They met a stiff resistance from Chief Samuel Ortom, though.
The people of Benue state can now understand what Chief Samuel Ortom was going through in the hands of the actors and power brokers that were sponsoring killings and Fulani attacks in the state during his administration.
However, the insecurity in the state didn’t just start under Alia, though it became more political under him. Former governors Gabriel Suswam and Samuel Ortom PhD experienced the same thing because they refused to play into the hands of the architects.
When Dr. Gabriel Suswam became governor, Benue state was very peaceful until he parted ways with his predecessor, Dr. George Akume, the current Secretary to the Government of the Federation.
Suswam and Akume parted ways when it became clear that he (Suswam) wasn’t ready to surrender the state treasury. The crisis was so much that an imaginary certificate scandal was raised against him.
At a point, Suswam was dragged before the Election Petition Tribunal, Appeal and at the end, the Supreme Court where his second term victory was critically challenged by Professor Steve Torkuma Ugbah. Ugha was the governorship candidate of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN.
Apart from this, several political killings took place in Benue state. The killings were attributed to Suswam even though they were sponsored by the leadership of the defunct ACN in Benue in order to discredit the then state administration.
Fulani herdsmen were killing here and there. They were getting massive supports from the leadership of the ACN in the state.
When Chief Samuel Ortom PhD came as governor, he started with his carrot approach to curb killings especially from the militia. He succeeded and the state began to enjoy relative peace until the same actors tried to hijack his government from him. He rejected plots by the leaders of the All Progressive Congress in Benue state to rule his administration for him and the rest was history.
Because Chief Samuel Ortom refused to share government funds with these same stakeholders, lot of attacks were made on the state. Several innocent people were killed in their thousands while properties worth hundreds millions of Naira were destroyed. And as a matter of fact, a deadly attack was made on the life of the former governor on his farm in Guma but he escaped through God’s intervention and the gallantry of his security aides.
When it was clear that Chief Ortom couldn’t be subdued under their control, the stakeholders made plans to impeach him. When the plan failed, they sponsored more killings in the state, and also called for a State of Emergency in the state but it all failed.
And Governor Alia came! The present governor of Benue state won his election and also won in various courts, and when it was time for him to stabilize himself, a serious political fight began between him and his estranged political godfather, Senator George Akume.
Although, they both denied having any issues at the start, it later became clear that the SGF and his fellow stakeholders won’t allow peace to reign in the state for as long as Alia remains governor.
The stakeholders said the reason for their battle against the governor was because he wasn’t carrying them along in his decisions but the story from the governor’s camp was that the stakeholders wanted him to share Benue funds with them.
The governor said he won’t agree to that, and the public believed him because that was the same reason the SGF’s team fought Gabriel Suswam and Chief Samuel Ortom PhD during their respective times as governors. Of course, it’s because Chief Ortom was determined to liberate Benue that he was able to crumble godfatherism in the state.
Prominent on the team of the SGF are Senators Titus Zam and Emmanuel Udende. They have sponsored several media attacks against the governor just like they did to Chief Samuel Ortom.
They have always thrown jabs at the governor at many public events. They at a point promised to make the state ungovernable for him just as they threatened Chief Ortom in 2018. For months now, the state has been witnessing massive killings which may not end soon if the actors have no change of heart.
Presently, the argument going in the state is that Governor Alia doesn’t have the strength to stop Benue insecurity and I ask, how can the governor stop it when those fueling it are the powerful Benue sons in Abuja?
I am Aare Abiodun Oluwarotimi, De Oracular Oracle that eats jollof rice in the shrine.