Nigerian Concord Newspaper
Early this week, the revered monarch and paramount ruler of the Tiv nation, Professor James Ayatse in his spirited efforts made efforts to reconcile the governor of Benue state, Reverend Father Hyacinth Alia and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume by inviting both of them to his palace in Gboko.
The Tor Tiv who believes in the unity and development of Tiv nation made it known to both Alia and Akume that it’s only when there is peace that Benue state can develop.
But the reconciliation move may have hit a rock as a result of the difficult tasks which the former Benue governor sets to give the governor.
Recall that Alia and Akume have been fighting each other over who controls the state chapter of the All Progressive Congress since the governor assumed duties on May 29, 2023.
Both men are also in a running battle over the leadership of the State House of Assembly.
Although, media handlers of Father Hyacinth Alia have been writing on their various Social Media accounts and pages since Monday that the governor was open to a genuine reconciliation, the camp of the SGF has maintained a dangerous silence which signals non-commitment to the peace move.
However on Tuesday, the leader of the Benue APC National Assembly Caucus, Senator Titus Zam made a post on his verified Facebook Page where he said that the SGF’s camp would only accept the reconciliation move if Governor Alia gave them their shares of the state administration.
According to Dr. Zam in the Facebook post which he later deleted and denied, the governor must be ready to carry the APC federal lawmakers along in anything he does within his administration for the reconciliation to be accepted.
Meanwhile, Senator George Akume has reportedly put together some demands which he will present at another peace-making meeting which the National Chairman of the APC, Alhaji Ganduje and some top Aides of President Bola Tinubu to be led by Chief of Staff Femi Gbajabiamila will be having with him and Governor Hyacinth Alia immediately after a meeting with the Tor Tiv and the Benue APC federal lawmakers.
In his yet to be presented demands which Nigerian Concord Newspaper reliably gathered from his Aides this afternoon, the SGF wants the Benjamin Omakolo-led Excos disbanded while the state chapter of APC will operate under the chairmanship of Austin Agada.
“The governor will be asked to scrap the factional APC office that is being occupied by the factional State Excos who were inaugurated two weeks ago by his Chief of Staff. For peace to reign in our party, the governor must return to Agada because we cannot descend too low to accept Omakolo as our state Chairman” a top Aides of the SGF said.
It was also gathered that part of Akume’s demands is that the acting chairman of the Benue State Internal Revenue Service must be immediately replaced by the immediate past chairman of the Board, Ms. Mimi Orubibi who was sacked by Governor Alia some months ago.
Recall that Mimi Orubibi was sacked by the governor who later recalled her owing to pressures from Senator Akume. Governor Alia would later sack her despite reabsorbing her.
The governor will also be asked to reshuffle his cabinet and absorb some nominees from the SGF. “It will be 40% for us and 60% for the governor because we put him there. And as a matter of fact, it’s our camp that will give him SSG and chief of Staff. Members of the APC social media team must also be engaged by the governor so they won’t be idle after he had used them for his campaigns” the Aide said.
The speaker of the State House of Assembly may be a major casualty as the SGF will be demanding his removal from office. His sin according to the Aide is that he failed to accept a gift of Jeep, an Abuja mansion and a huge sum of money when they met two weeks ago on the possible impeachment of the governor.
The Aide said the speaker only agreed to the impeachment plot but didn’t accept the gift, an action which made the SGF’s handlers believe that he was not ready to join them to remove the governor from office. “We want our own person (Becky Orpine) as speaker if truly the reconciliation should be effective.
This newspaper also learnt that the governor will be tasked to review government contracts and award some to the Benue APC stakeholders with Chief Mike Msuaan as the eye of the SGF on the award of contracts.
Apart from the party dues which Governor Alia will be mandated to double, it’s also in the tasks of the SGF to be getting monthly allocations from the state treasury. “The governor must give us our shares because we put him there. We heard that his people have been writing that he won’t share money for anyone” the Aide stated.
Also in the tasks by Senator Akume is the immediate withdrawal of a case against his man who represents Katsina-Ala at the State House of Assembly, Hon. Jonathan Agbidye at the DSS where he was recently detained over his complicity in the crimes in the Sankera Axis.
Agbidye was released recently from the DSS net but Dr. Akume as learnt by this newspaper will mandate Governor Alia to see to the withdrawal of the case even though a video which went viral last night had revealed that the lawmaker had made some confessions during his detention.
Agbidye is to immediately replace Saater Tesser as the Majority Leader of the State House of Assembly immediately after the reconciliation meeting which will be hosted by Ganduje, Gbajabiamila and other top Aides of President Bola Tinubu.
Meanwhile, the Tor Tiv in his efforts to ensure that the is peace in Benue state will me ha ing another peace-making meeting with the governor and the Benue APC National Assembly members in Gboko this morning.
Senator Titus Zam will be leading the federal lawmakers that are loyal to the SGF to the meeting and this newspaper reliably gathered that a major demand from them is that the governor should allow them to nominate candidates from chairmanship, vice chairmanship and Councillorship for the party across their federal Constituencies in the forthcoming local government elections which will be conducted by the Benue State Independent Electoral Commission soon.