Nigerian Concord Newspaper
The Benue State chapter of the People’s Democratic Party has berated the governor of the state, Father Hyacinth Alia for describing opposition as “enemies of the state” at his interactive session with journalists at the weekend at The People’s House, Makurdi.
The Benue’s major opposition party made its position known in a press release issued by the State publicity secretary, Mr. Bemgba Iortyom.
According to the PDP, such utterances by Governor Alia loudly announced him as a narcissist who is blinded by delusions of grandeur which are not only unfounded and lack a basis in any track record of his as can be verified anywhere, but also explains his failed take-off in office so far.
“By way of basic enlightenment for the governor, PDP puts it to him that the opposition is an integral part of any democracy, and in clear essence, good governance is obtainable only where there is a robust intercourse between the government on seat and the opposition” the statement said.
The Benue PDP stated that Governor Alia himself while campaigning for the office he currently occupies functioned in the station of the opposition, yet no one deemed him an enemy of the state, and it is a mark of the enlightened view of the government on seat then that he found space to ventilate and actualize his political aspirations.
The statement reads in parts: “Perhaps, it is such an unfortunate view of the governor that has led him on a jungle style crackdown on functionaries of the immediate past administration of Samuel Ortom whom he has been hunting in the most crudely under the guise of an assets recovery mission.
“PDP reminds Governor Alia that he lacks the scariest of credentials to see himself as more Benue than anyone should the basis for stakeholding in the state be contributions made to its building.
“What was the Alia’s track record in building Benue State prior to his becoming governor?
“Did he as much as complete a single church project at any of the parishes of the Roman Catholic Church where he served?
“Did he not come out from his service under the cassock of the priest richer as an individual with choice holdings in real estate investments, including a palatial personal mansion, while leaving every of the churches he served at poorer?
“Did Alia as a priest undertake any charitable venture as priests of his ranking are known to have done at their various duty stations, or can he boast of a single public spirited project to his name all through the 32 years of his sojourn in priesthood?
“As governor, what has Alia achieved other than the promotion of hatred, vengefulness and clannish sentiments, while manipulating the system through fraudulent audit exercises which are shrouded in a voodoo style of governance that utterly abhors accountability and transparency?
“Only a narcissist will see the opposition as enemies rather than the partners in state building that they truly are”