By Tunde Olusunle
When Hyacinth Iornem Alia, a priest of the Catholic Church, declared his intention to contest for the 2023 governorship in Benue State, his interest resonated with the people of the state. Back in 1991 under the eternally endless Third Republic transition programme of the General Ibrahim Babangidaadministration, an older priest of the same denomination, Moses Orshio Adasu, contested the governorship of the same state. Adasu ran on the platform of the Social Democratic Party, (SDP) one of the two political parties established by the Babangida regime at the time, won the election and was inaugurated on January 2, 1992. He was barely two years in office before the famously ruthless army General, Sani Abacha, abrogated the Third Republic in November 1993.
Adasu, nonetheless left positive and enduring fingerprints on the face of the state. He is credited with changing the character of education and industrialisation in the state. He founded the renowned Benue State University, (BSU), Makurdi, perhaps one of the best run state-owned universities in the country. Adasu also upgraded the Benue State College of Education, Oju. He initiated the Benue State Fruit Drink Company to take advantage of the abundant agricultural potential in the state. To be sure, the hybrid aroma of mangoes and oranges, forever drench your nostrils in the afternoon air, even on a casual drive through the state. Adasu similarly launched the Roof Tiles Production Company, to support the development of the upcoming construction industry in Benue State. Adasu passed on at 60 in 2005.
Memories of Reverend Father Adasu’s imprimatur three full decades before Alia’s declaration to run for the topmost position in Benue State, easily recommended him to the predominantly Catholic polity. In May 2022, shortly after he made his intention public though, he was suspended by the Catholic Bishop of Gboko, William Avenya. Alia was pointedly reminded that: “The Mother Church does not allow her clerics to get involved in partisan politics on their own.” Alia, however, was somewhat popular amongst sections of the common folk. He regularly held “healing masses,” where miracles were reportedly wrought. This reason, and the many politically muscular shoulders which availed themselves to Alia to rest and ride on in his first ever political venture, smoothed his pathway.
Alia assumed office in May 2023 and launched out, gestapo-style, against perceived enemies of his new government. His agents prowled the streets and mechanic workshops of urban areas in the state, ferreting for automobiles presumed to belong to the state government and impounding them. Alia’smilieu was already logging litigations as early as its first weeks. He fell out with his benefactors, notably George Akume, the first governor of Benue State this Fourth Republic. Akume, the incumbent Secretary to the Government of the Federation, (SGF), has long been a major political force in the state, hailed for having good nostrils for the identification of politically marketable candidates.
Akume it was who backed the candidature of Alia’spredecessor, Samuel Ortom and availed him the gubernatorial ticket of the All Progressives Congress, (APC), late 2014. Ortom felt done in, at the governorship primary of the Peoples’ Democratic Party, (PDP) and Akume was there for him. Alia has also been at daggers drawn with Dickson Tarkighir, the Member Representing Makurdi/Guma federal constituency in the House of Representatives, of the same political party with him. Apart from committing his own personal resources into the enthronement of Alia, Tarkighirreportedly leveraged his goodwill to advance the latter’s political ambition. In one instance, Tarkighir, we understand, structured a whopping N500 million, ex-gratis support for Alia from a former governor of one of the northern states. All of these to give Alia’s quest a push. The last time I checked though, Alia’s agents had marked Tarkighir’s popular entertainment hub in Makurdi city centre, for possible demolition. Alia indeed reportedly has issues with a number of other Benue representatives in the “green chambers”, including Philip Agbese, Deputy Chairman of House of Representatives Committee on Media and Public Affairs.