Nigerian Concord Newspaper
Baring any last minute intervention, the governor of Benue state, Reverend Father Hyacinth Alia will be dumping the All Progressive Congress in the state to join another party where he intends to achieve his second term ambition.
Parts of the plans being made by the governor is the immediate establishment of a state secretariat and local government offices for the Benjamin Omakolo-led parallel executive committees of the All Progressive Congress.
According to the acting state Chairman of the governor’s faction of All Progressive Congress in Benue state, Benjamin Omakolo during a brief phone chat with one of our reporters in Makurdi this morning, Governor Alia is the leader of the party, adding that any attempt by anyone to frustrate him will lead to mass Exodus from the party.
Speaking through his telephone line with number 07037434117, Benjamin Omakolo alleged that some politicians who claim be the loyalists of SGF George Akume are hell bent on setting Benue state on fire as a result of their hatred for the governor.
The factional chairman added that it is not possible for the governor to achieve his re-election under the Austin Agada-led executive committee of the party hence the plans to establish the “authentic” faction of the party.
Saying that Agada is not occupying the office with any legal backing, Omakolo stressed that he would soon be sent packing by a “competent” court. “But we cannot wait till that happens and that is why we plan to get a new secretariat for the authentic faction of the party where we will be operating under the leadership of our amiable leader, Reverend Father Hyacinth Alia” he noted.
He added that factional excos have also been set up across the twenty three local government areas and all the council wards in the state.
The factional chairman however, dismissed the rumours that Governor Alia was making plans to dump the APC. He said such plan was a figment of the accuser’s imagination.
He however said that Governor Alia is backed by the law to leave the APC if he feels unsafe since there are two factions of the party in Benue state at the moment.
“With two factions in the Benue state chapter of All Progressive Congress, His Excellency (Alia) can now leave the party successfully without any legal implication” Omakolo said.
Meanwhile, this newspaper has gathered Governor Alia is planning to collapse the structure of his faction of All Progressive Congress into the Labour Party which he believes is the safest for him to return back for a second term.
This according to investigation explains the governor’s financial support to the tune of N250 Million to the candidate of the Labour Party, Mr. Peter China during the last Guma State Constituency bye-election which was eventually won by the APC candidate.
Apart from giving China the sum of N250 million, the governor also financed a solid team of security operatives to him and the Labour Party during the bye-election.
Our investigation showed that the People’s Democratic Party is no longer an option for Governor Alia as a result of his poor relationship with the leader of the party in the state, Chief Samuel Ortom PhD.
“All the members of the State Working Committee as well as all the state executives of the People’s Democratic Party in Benue state are strongly with former governor Samuel Ortom so it will be hard for Alia to get a soft landing” one of Alia’s appointees who preferred not to be mentioned said.