After ruling Benue State for 16 years, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was in a good position to win the April 11 governorship elections. But, Governor Gabriel Suswam handed the state over to All Progressives Congress (APC) during the election. What really went wrong?
In the view of observers, the PDP shot itself in the foot when during the primaries it handed over its governorship ticket to an inexperienced politician.
This was coupled with myriad of problems that confronted the Benue chapter of the party, prior to the general elections. The problems include from the non-payment of salaries, which had accumulated for about six months as at the time of the elections. Pensioners were also being owed arrears of their entitlements, and teachers were also aggrieved over the non-implementation of the national minimum wage policy. In fact, the teachers were on strike at the time.
Local government workers are not left out; they have been at loggerheads with the government over complaints about heavy deduction from their monthly salaries.
The explanation by the Suswam-led administration that it was as a result of the reduction in allocations from the Federation Account, due to the slump in oil prices, fell on the deaf ears. The aggrieved workers left no one in doubt that they were going to extract their pound of fresh from the ruling party during the election.
Apart from the issue of salary which contributed to the defeat, another factor that worked against the party was political patronage.
Most elders in the party were aggrieved that the governor had abandoned them, by leaning on a new generation of politicians like John Tondo,Bob Tyough, Bernard Nenge, Chris Aba and Terseer Adzuu.
But, one of the factors that led to the fall of the PDP was the emergence Hon. Terhemen Tarzoor, a young and inexperienced candidate.
About 18 aspirants jostled for the ticket. They include: Chief Samuel Ortom (now Governor-elect on the platform of the APC), Chief Mike Aondoakaa, Eugene Aliegba, Alex Adum Hinga Biem and Tivlumun Nyitse. Sure of them were members Governor Suswam’s cabinet, either as commissioners or permanent secretaries.
Most of them sought and got the blessing of the governor before they resigned to join the governorship race. That implied an assurance from the governor that he would support each of them.
However, ahead of the primaries approached, another dimension was introduced into the campaign. “It was rumoured that the wife of President Goodluck Jonathan, Dame Patience, anointed Hon. Tarzor to succeed Suswam and this generated tension among the aspirants and PDP members generally,” a source said.
They vowed to resist the attempt by an outsider to impose a candidate on the people of Benue State.
When Tarzoor finally emerged as the PDP governorship candidate, there was a huge crack within the ranks of the party, as no less than 12 aggrieved governorship aspirants worked against him at the general election.
“The ruling PDP in Benue went into both the presidential and National Assembly elections and the governorship and state House of Assembly elections as a divided house; their supporters worked against the party’s interest and it was obvious that defeat loomed for the party,” the source added.
After Gen. Muhammadu Buhari was declared winner of the presidential election, Chief Barnabas Gemade defeated Suswam and the Senate Minority Leader George Akume won his re-election. It was too late to do something to stop the looming defeat at the governorship poll.
