Correspondent UJA EMMANUEL reports that the contest for the Benue Northeast senatorial ticket would be a big battle in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) between Governor Gabriel Suswam and Chief Barnabas Gemade.
The Benue Northeast senatorial contest in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will be a battle royale in 2015. Benue State Governor Gabriel Suswam is set to join the growing league of governors aspiring to go to the Senate. He would thus be toeing the footsteps of Senator George Akume, his predecessor in office.
When he joins the race, he would slug it out with the former National Chairman of the PDP, Chief Barnabas Gemade, who is presently occupying the seat. Less than two years into the tenure of Senator Gemade, a group of politicians under the umbrella of “Zone A PDP Elders,” has endorsed Suswam for the seat. The group is led by old politicians believed to be playing bread and butter politics. The group has even inaugurated a committee to work for the success of Suswam in the battle to clinch the ticket.
But Gemade has fired back, describing the leader of the group, Hon. Atoza Ihidan, a Second Republic lawmaker, as mischievous. He said Ihidan and his co-travelers are distracting Suswam and himself from their busy schedules because they both have jobs at hand and it was too early for the campaign.
But, if recent events in Benue politics, and in the PDP are anything to go by, then, Governor Suswam’s chance against Senator Gemade in the quest to go into the National Assembly like his predecessor, Senator George Akume, is slim.
Apart from the fact that he has allegedly made more enemies for himself with his style of administration, criticisms are mounting against the governor on alleged corruption, capital flight from the state and general impoverishment of the indigenes. Besides, with the recent proposal by Chief Tony Anenih that all the PDP candidates be given automatic tickets, if the plan sails through, then, he may face a uphill task in his ambition to go to the Senate.
Another hurdle for Suswam is the claim by the Kwande/Ushongo people in the Benue Northeast that the seat belongs to them. They argued that since, Sankera, where Suswam hails from, and Jechira, Gemade’ birthplace, has had their turns, Kwande should produce the next senator. Suswam’s ambition is further threatened by his Special Adviser on Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Prince Solomom Wombo, who is eyeing the Ukum, Logo and Kastsina -Ala Federal Constituency seat, presently occupied by Emmanuel Udende.
Wombo, like Suswam, hails from the Sankera political bloc, which has three local governments. The seat has rotated from Katsina-Ala to Ukum local government, where the tenure of the present occupant , Udende, will terminated in 2015. The fear is that since Suswam’s Special Adviser is interested in the seat, the present occupant, who has also indicated his interest to seek re-election, may be forced into the opposition. This would be the beginning of opposition for Suswam, in his own enclave, with three local governments, a development the governor would want to avoid.
Gemade, on his part, presents a formidable force to stop Suswam’s ambition. The former national chairman of the PDP has recently embarked on massive constituency projects in his senatorial zone. The projects ranging from hospitals, roads, water provision, to the renovation and construction of school blocks spread across the seven local government areas which make up the Zone A. This gesture has endeared him to the electorate.
Also, Gemade is believed to have more connection in the Presidency than Suswam. A PDP chieftain who spoke to The Nation on condition of anonymity, said his connection accounted for the re-appointment of his brother, Terver Gemade, who was suspended as the Managing Director of the Federal Housing Authority (FHA).
Gemade, a founding member of the PDP , member of the Board of Trustees (BoT) and a former national chairman of the party, enjoys massive support of top PDP members.
Governor Suswam’s greatest undoing as the governor of Benue State, according to sources, was the way and manner he abandoned his friends after he assumed power. He allegedly shunned those who would have added value to his administration and embrace those who have nothing to offer in the running of the government.
In the build up to the 2011 elections his closest aides lost their polling stations and wards to the opposition, yet he still retained most of them in the cabinet. Even in the constitution of his cabinet, apart from the Finance Commissioner, Oklobia Omadachi, a Harvard Business School graduate, Lands and Survey John Tondo, Works and Transport John Ngbede, analysts believe that most of them have nothing meaningful to offer. Political observers say for Suswam to defeat Gemade and clinch the ticket would be like the proverbial camel passing through the eye of a needle. But politics, they say, is no mathematics. Anything can happen, especially, in the PDP.
