Tag: Benue

By Onjefu Okidu

A great appellation associated with Reverend Father Hyacinth Alia shortly after his emergence on the Benue political scene as a gubernatorial aspirant and candidate is: “Yes Father!”  Like lots of people with appellative nicknames, Fr. Alia never chose “Yes Father!,” he just came to accept the way the generality of the people of the state embrace and endorse him politically not just as a “man of God” but as “charismatic priest  immersed in the ways of God.”

Undoubtedly, the appellation was a very strong public statement of overwhelming acceptance. For any good observer, the campaign engagement of the appellation significantly saw him made great strides in the 2023 elections. Father Alia obviously was able to pull overwhelming popular vote with admiration due to the general sentiment across the state that there was the need to turn to God to find solutions to the myriads of problems bedevilling the state. The state was (and still is) in a real mess, and actually needs repairing and rebuilding spiritually, materially, physically and psychologically. There were so many gaps – no salaries, no security, no capital investment, no ethnic unity, no sincerity, no honest, no integrity, no truth etc., etc., etc.

To be fair, on his part, Father Alia responded at the time with every Godly responsibility. He demonstrated a deep spiritual response of a potential upright leader with worrying impulsiveness of a “man of God” in a hurry to put things right.  Actually, it could be observed that his heart desired to glorify the Almighty God with his blessing of a victory as he consistently promised to use it for the benefit of all Benue and Nigerian people. To be sure, while offering prayers to the Almighty God for a gift of fidelity and perseverance, Fr. Alia re-emphasized his enormous love and passion for the ways of the Almighty God. He disclosed that “God directed him to take a sabbatical on his sacred orders to take a more spiritually significant role in promoting the value of the crucified Christ among the suffering people of Benue State.”

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However, since he took over the reins of power in May, apart from the fact that the appellation has completely disappeared from the Benue and national airwaves, the most random Benue people are beginning to frankly and candidly re-examine the pernicious banter they had used to assess him as a “man of God.” They are kind of taking another look at the appellation as to whether it still really defines the man. A central tenet of religion in society, especially Christianity, which “Fr. Alia subscribes as a front-liner,” is the elimination of evil in all forms. For this reason, Pope John Paul II, wrote in his 1994 apostolic letter, “Priests should act in order that all doubts may be removed.” Apparently, doubts continue to abound since the governor came on board irrespective of the sycophantic communication of his aides, detractors and dementors.

Now, let’s start literally, systematically and candidly. Actually, one of the prominent areas of doubt is Fr. Alia’s management of ethnic identity. A very sad recurrent gap which all and sundry expected the “Reverend gentle man” to address is the impingement of ethnic identity on the state’s political leadership, and by extension the social capital. For the avoidance of doubt, demographic, anthropological and sociological evidence clearly classify the Idoma as a major ethnic group in Benue state. In other words, they are strictly classified as a major ethnic stakeholder in the state as much as her Tiv ethnic counterpart, a reality that cannot be obliterated.

The statistics on the father’s political appointments since the debut of his administration show that the representation of the Idoma people is almost zero percent. Yes, almost zero percent based on the people’s stake-holding in the state! It is actually needless to bore with the governor’s appointment statistics as other previous writers have made great efforts in providing them. Those who are in doubt can refer to them (cabinet and non-cabinet), make a sincere review and pen a rejoinder to this piece for a robust discourse. Actually, a very disturbing and scary trend in Benue politics at the moment is the systematic elimination of the Idomas from the political leadership of the state and by extension the country, in a bizarre, crude and naked manner. The scope of Father Alia’s political suppression of the people is astonishing. It is so great and extreme that some critics have observed that his proudest achievement in his 100 days in office may be the suppression of the Idoma people in political appointments.

To be sure, many have written and made media appearances to appeal to the governor to address the situation but to no avail. For the avoidance of doubt, while some established and truthful Idoma political leaders and elders were disheartened and very pained that Idoma people were being excluded from the governance of the state, and were urging the state governor to do the right thing, Austin Agada, the state APC chair, threw up ominous media conversations in strong condemnation of the leaders and elders. The insults, indecencies, lies, misinformation and the indecorum that emanated from him should suggest to anyone that he is one of the numerous political actors in Idomaland devoid of any counsel that could be beneficial to either the Idoma people or the Benue State government.

In fact, as it is, the fear is no longer political, but existential. Precisely because, when you remove a people from the corridors of political power you also remove them from the corridors of economic power. Since the First Republic, it has never been this bad. However, every now and again, the Reverend Father has continued to hype the cliché of repairing and rebuilding the state. Virtually all his political speeches since his inauguration have been spiced with the repairing and rebuilding cliché. The hard-hitting question being asked by conscientious God fearing Nigerians is: is Father Alia actually repairing and rebuilding Benue State by systematically excluding the Idoma people who are a vital majority stakeholder in the state from political leadership at home and abroad?

To be sure, the appropriateness of the election of a clergy as governor of Benue State at a time of heightened threats of unfairness, injustice and inequity can never be overemphasized. Considering where he was coming from, many truly anticipated Fr. Alia’s administration to be forthright in upholding justice, equity, fairness, inclusiveness and unity in the state. Invariably, the complete opposite appears to be starkly gaining track and traction by day! Aside the God factor, democracy is not about vote-catching as has been argued in some quarters; it is a game of fairness and equity devoid of ethnic parochialism. It reinforces brotherhood bonds and generally maintains balance. Good political leadership therefore produces solidarity across ethnic lines via true brotherhood, generosity and empathy.

Senators George Akume and Gabriel Suswam as governors of the state tried their best to build some kind of bridges, even as non-clerics. Yes, they did. The expectation was that Fr. Alia would improve upon them. Rather, he is seen pulling down the bridges.  Not only the Idoma people, the generality of the Benue people should at this point in clear terms reverse the appellation and say: No Father, this is not the ways of the Almighty God!

• Dr Okidu writes from Ilorin. He can be reached through okidu2002@yahoo.com