Nigerian Concord Newspaper
This is certainly not the best time for the Benue state chapter of the All Progressive Congress as a result of the cold wars between the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume and his estranged political godson and governor of the state, Reverend Father Hyacinth Alia.
According to investigation by Nigerian Concord Newspaper, this cold war between Akume and Alia has resulted to a serious plot to unseat the governor through an impeachment process.
Recall that both politicians had maintained that there was no fight between them even though the rift between them could no longer be kept as a secret
Before now, both Akume and Alia had been seen at public functions where they embraced themselves closely despite that they both harbour a high degree of bitterness against each other.
The crisis between them finally came to the open last week when media handlers and Aides of the SGF and the governor started attacking their principals on the cyberspace.
The cyber war degenerated to a level that an Aide to the governor, Mr. Mkeenem Moses addressed a press conference where he called for the resignation of the state chairman of the party, Mr Austin Agada.
Moses’ reason was that Agada was using his position to disrupt the peace and security of Benue state.
Agada had arranged the twenty three local government chairmen of the All Progressive Congress to protest against the constitution of local government caretaker committee last week.
Reacting to that, Moses said Agada did that to revenge the governor’s refusal to accept his nominee for the Chairmanship of Ogbadibo local government because the nominee isn’t a member of the All Progressive Congress.
However, our reporter gathered this morning that a serious plot to unseat Governor Alia is ongoing as a result of the face-off between him and Senator George Akume who is apparently not happy that he doesn’t have any influence in the running of the state administration.
Our investigation revealed that the origin of the problem in Benue APC is traced to the faulty foundation on which the present administration started.
This newspaper uncovered it that soon after the election results were announced, Senator George Akume approached the governor with a proposal on how he wants Benue to run.
A source told this newspaper that: “Senator Akume demanded that the governor should allow him to appoint persons into key positions, including the speaker, deputy speaker, and majority leader in the House of assembly.
“He also requested key ministries and agencies, including finance, local government, education, SUBEB, BIRS, Exams Board, and many others.
“He had already pencilled down names, including his candidate, Becky Orpin as the speaker of the House of assembly.
“Furthermore, he requested N1billion and N200 million monthly for himself and his wife from the federation account allocation”
Sources stated that Governor Alia approached Senator Akume to cut down the demands but got no positive response from the SGF who vowed to remove him from the government House for daring to negotiate his authority.