OPINION
ALIA’S GREATEST ENEMIES
By Sam Adzegeh
It is now clear to discerning minds in Benue State that, with the calibre of political appointees he has, Benue Governor, Rev. Hyacinth Iormem Alia hardly needs enemies; his coterie of appointees, loyalists and sundry supporters across the State have, in the short time of a year and half, done their darnedest to give the genial Governor a bad name, in spite of some commendable steps taken in policy implementation, especially as seen in the ‘underpass/overpass’ in Makurdi among others.
The Governor’s supposed strategic thinkers have tragically failed to capitalize on Alia’s goodwill to reap optimal capital for the embattled Governor and his administration.
Every sane person in Benue State remembers the immense goodwill which heralded Alia’s emergence as Benue Governor in 2023. The youngish reverend gentleman had emerged from a field saturated with time-tested political gladiators who had proven their mettle in their fields of endeavour including academics, engineering, law, etc.
It is no secret that, given the rich array of contenders (then) in the APC gubernatorial primaries, the clergyman did not stand a snowball’s chance in hell of passing through the APC political crucible.
Going for him however were his background as reverend gentleman and his antecedents as a miracle preacher who was widely believed to have performed many healings across the length and breadth of Benue State.
What finally tipped the scales in Alia’s favour however, was the solid backing he received from the vastly popular Senator George Akume, current SGF, a former Benue Governor, personal friend to President Ahmed Tinubu and leader of the APC in Benue State if not the entire middle belt of Nigeria. Leveraging on the immense popularity the young Alia enjoyed across the State, Akume drafted the young man into the gubernatorial race and deployed all means foul or fair to ensure his emergence as APC candidate. The rest is, as they say, is now history.
On assumption of office, and well aware of the murky circumstances of his emerging as APC candidate and subsequently winning the elections, Alia knew that his best gambit in succeeding as Governor was to shore up his populist reputation among the masses by adopting policies which were people oriented. He thus made all the right noises, promising immediate re-energizing of the civil service, renovating the State Secretariat as well as clearing of arrears of salaries and pensions; ditto the construction of underpasses in some major towns across the State and other policies and actions. These further shored up the Governor’s image among Benue people as many saw him as a Redeemer, come to deliver the people from the economic enslavement of some past administrations, an image he still largely enjoys.
Unfortunately, it is the governor’s own appointees/followers who, through a combination of poor interpersonal relationships, selfishness, avarice and uncultured conduct as well as unguarded utterances, continue to rack up more opponents for the Governor.
Leading the pack are two gentlemen, one who, by the office he occupies has no reason whatsoever to be noticeable in the public.
Aondona Mkor, Alia’s Director of research, strategy and documentation, by the very nature of his exalted office, should be found more in the cob-webby libraries than in the public space, especially not in the media arena. This gentleman has, however bulldozed his way to the very urbane world of media practice and has proceeded to behave in a most uncivilized manner, including the lavish use of crude obscenities in engaging in the public space; Mkor’s outings would shame even the most barbaric of underworld king pins.
Sadly, the Governor, a reverend gentleman, has never been known to caution Mkor’s recklessness, thus giving the impression that he is acting out the Governor’s script.
Another is the Chief Press Secretary, Tersoo Kula. From his beginnings as a young man lost in the magnanimity of his new office, Kula today appears to be in a contest to out-do Mkor in efforts to get more enemies for Governor Alia; no one is beyond insults in Kula’s bid to please (?) his master. The CPS, who insists he is an MNIPR, has severally, in a bid to impress the Governor and the crowd of APC supporters across the state, over reached himself in how-not-to-be a public relations manager. Again, by not openly cautioning him, the Governor appears to be encouraging Kula in his conduct.
I was in the final process of rounding off this write-up when I woke up to the inevitable rumpus between the two Alia bulldozers as shamelessly displayed on their favourite channel communication outlet, Facebook, with Kula bitterly complaining about and distancing his office from an ad hoc media committee set up to protect the Governor’s interests. It took just a while before Mkor, in his usual Rambo style, came after the Press Secretary with his full arsenal of bazookas claiming ownership of the contentious ad-hoc media committee, the setting-up of which he claimed was fully authorized by Alia! The controversy rages as I write.
Benue is, indeed, in for some interesting times ahead.
– Adzegeh, a Media Consultant, writes from Makurdi.
