Tag: Suswam

After the successful handover of the reigns of office to his successor on   May 29, after eight years of service to his state, Dr Gabriel Suswam, the immediate past governor of Benue state has opted to for a low profile. He has made only one public appearance since leaving office and that was August 14, 2015 at the funeral of his close political associate, the late Hon.Atoza Ihindan, who was cut down by yet unknown political assassins. Suswam has equally avoided public comments in the media preferring to maintain a dignified silence even on matters of state some of them pertaining to his performance in office as governor.

Those who know Suswam very well can attest to the fact that he is a man of the people, who loves company and public appearances as much as he loves engaging the media on issues.  Why has the former Governor chosen to maintain studied silence when his tenure is being put on the scale by   the new administration? The answer may not far fetched. As former Governor, Suswam sees himself as a statesman who should carefully weigh all his comments on public matters so as not to unduly overheat the polity thereby constitute a source of distraction to those charged with the responsibility to provide leadership at this point in time.

Although Suswam has maintained his quiet stance on issues, it appears the new administration in Benue state is still not comfortable with his silence and  seeming inactivity and would want to bring him to the ring for a political bout. The many probes launched against Suswam speak volumes in this regard.

At the last count, there were about five probe committees launched with fanfare by the government against the Suswam administration. The first was personnel audit of all workers on the state payroll.This probe was ordered by the new helmsman a few days on assumption of office. The objective was ostensibly to check the state’s payroll to fish out ‘ghost workers” and possible reduce the wage bill. That appeared on the surface an objective exercise. But the real reason for the exercise was to identify those employed by the Suswam administration in its last two years in office for retrenchment. In pursuit of this veiled political agenda therefore, the new administration did not wait for a report of the audit, it went ahead and removed from the payroll, all those employed by the outgone administration since 2013, when it had two clear years to the end of its tenure. This  obvious political activity has sent nearly 1000 staff off jobs. The “offence” of this people is that  they were employed by Suswam, even though due process was followed in making the appointments.

The second probe  of the Suswam era was carried out by the Transition Committee. The committee headed by Chief Mike Iordye, who incidentally served for six and half years out of Suswam’sight-year tenure as Head of Service its report with fanfare. The Transition committee  which was supposed to receive hand over notes, study and summarise same for the new administration turned into a probe committee as it traversed the state visiting projects sites. It summoned dozens of civil servants and other private persons to appear and testify before it. The Committee submitted a report with spurious findings on the debts left behind by the Suswam administration.

Not satisfied with the Transition Committee, the new administration inaugurated two judicial commissions of inquiry all in one day-The first is to investigate and determine all revenues which accrued to the state since June 2007 when Suswam assumed office to May 2015 when he left office. The Panel headed by Justice Margaret kpojime has six months to determine how such revenues were applied, the contracts awarded, who awarded the contracts, the status of the various jobs, and whether there was value for money in the transactions, to identify any case of malfeasance and recommend appropriate measures for consideration of the government.

The other probe panel is for verification of government assets. The committee headed by Mr. Moses Atagher, a Lawyer and former Acting Managing Director of the Federal Mortgage Bank has the mandate to determine all assetsof the state in terms, landed property, vehicles, shares, equipment, factories, etc their location, whether such assets were under lease arrangement, to determine the identity of  the persons behind the lease, the terms of the lease, whether there have been improvements on the property  etc.

All these probe panels have since commenced sitting in Makurdi. And the target from all indications is to get at Suswam, destroy his political base, ruin his reputation, cast his administration is the worst light,  and reduce his political viability and dent the image of as many Benue sons and daughters who were privileged to serve their state during Suswam’s eight-year tenure.

Although the administration in the state has denied that it was out to witch-hunt, the series of probes and mandate given the probe panels points directly to the desperation to nail Suswam by all means.

Unfortunately for the administration, the Suswam bashing has so far proved counter-productive as the achievements of his administration which is under scrutiny stand out confront the present actors on the political stage where ever they go across the state. The achievements are most unlikely to be pushed into oblivion anytime soon.

Take a look at the numerous infrastructural projects executed by Suswam. Most of the streets in Makurdi, Gboko, Otukpo and Katsina-Ala were tarred during his tenure. Over 1000km roads were built linking each of the 23  Local Government headquarters in the state. Most of the roads were completed and commissioned, some were at different stages of completion. The rural communities got a fair deal as over 150 communities benefitted from rural electricity projects. The primary  and  secondary education sectors received a huge boost in the provision of classrooms,  toilets, offices, libraries, laboratories and other infrastructure to boost teaching and learning. The states tertiary institutions were transformed to centres of excellence. The Benue State University particularly benefitted from several projects including a new Faculty of Law complex, convocation square, lecture theatres, faculty offices among others. The University Teaching Hospital was completed  and accreditation of the School of Medical Sciences achieved to enable Medical students graduate from the Uinversity.

The Suswam administration completed three major water projects in Makurdi, Otukpo and Katsina-Ala to provide potable water to the populace.

The administration constructed an ultra-modern Government House with offices, logde, banquet hall and guest houses. The facilities are  being  enjoyed by the new helmsmen.

Suswam’s ill-luck is that his party, the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) lost at the polls in the last general election. The on-going political malevolent guised in judicial probe panels is a direct byproduct of the outcome of the hotly contested elections. The inclusion of those who previously served the state and were involved in the very activities now under probe exposes the desperation to craft reasons for Suswam’s political subjugation within the realms of Benue politics. But how far will political vendetta go under the guise of Judicial probes?

The former Governor is confident he will come out clean from the probes. He is sure of his record of activities and has stated that he would subject himself to the probe.

Rather than obliterate Suswam politically, the serial probes are  making Suswam even the more relevant in the politics of Benue. His traducers are  not bringing anything on the table for the people to appreciate. Benue people are not seeing anything coming from the men on the stage in terms of positive intervention on development issues rather than the façade of Suswam bashing which has unfortunately become the official policy of the administration in place.

It  is high time the government in Benue found another area to  divert the peoples attention from the real developmental challenges confronting the stateas the probe panels aimed at discrediting the erstwhile Suswam administration  are proving to be counter-productive.

Abul, a political Affairs commentator contributed from Katsina-Ala, Benue State.