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By James Pitila

I saw a tweet by the arrogant and loudmouthed man who is the governorship candidate of Labour Party in Benue State, Herman Hembe in which he claimed that Peter Obi lost in the state because he embraced Governor Samuel Ortom. That was arrant nonsense. Hembe is a crook and a mischievous chap who has insulted every elder in Benue state.

The question to ask him is what did he do to win support for Peter Obi in Benue state? Obi visited the state many times but Hembe was not even recognized. He was not significant to the Obidient project so no one bothered to even notify him of the visit of Peter Obi.

Let me remind you about the crook called Herman Hembe. He is a very corrupt man and a cultist. He is not someone Benue people will consider for the big job of Governor. He will mortgage the state and run away with the proceeds to a foreign country.

Hembe hails from Mbakpor clan in Mbake council ward of Konshisha Local Government Area of Benue State. He is the second of six children in the family of the late Godwin Hembe, a professor of Political Science at the Benue State University, Makurdi.
He had an absurd reputation of fierce disagreements with his father who almost disowned him at a point in time. Before the man died, his son Iorwase made him have many regrets and went to his grave a sorrowful man.

You won’t find Hembe in the news all the time; but whenever you do, it’s mostly for the wrong reasons. And whenever it is for good reasons, they’re usually quickly overtaken by bad news. Let’s see a few examples.

In 2007, when Hembe first entered the political space, he was a greenhorn, entirely unknown, and he was going to get the backing of Olusegun Obasanjo, President at the time. He did. But that was the only good thing about his political journey since then.

Hembe is on record to have repeatedly insulted every prominent politician in Benue State. From the present Governor Samuel Ortom, Senator Barnabas Gemade, Senator George Akume, Senator Gabriel Suswam etc, Iorwase Hembe has spared none. Gemade in particular is his punching bag. Recently, he has been moving around insulting Governor Ortom during campaigns. But fails to tell the people what he can do differently if given the chance to govern the state. He pours venom on elders in a fashion only a criminally minded person would.

It was public knowledge that while he was at the Benue State University, where he studied Law, Hembe’s records were splotched by allegations of active involvement in cultism. His father was known to have publicly expressed helplessness in curtailing the truancy of both Hembe and his other brother, Orkuma, who attended but never graduated from the University of Agriculture, Makurdi.

So, how did an alleged cultist find his way to the National Assembly? Hembe’s brother, Orkuma, had been President of the once-cerebral but since-decrepit National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), in 2005, earning himself notoriety for attempting to perpetuate himself in office beyond the limit of his term. Orkuma was Obasanjo’s anointed candidate for the NANS presidency. When Orkuma reluctantly vacated his office, the alliance blossomed. Once during Obasanjo’s tenure, Orkuma was reported to have told the Vice Chancellor of his university that after the president of the country, his vice, and the senate president, he was the next most powerful Nigerian! That was how Iorwase got closer to power and found himself at the National Assembly.

Hembe was still 36 years old in 2011 when he became Chairman of the House Committee on Capital Market and other Financial Institutions. A ‘youngie’ chairing a strategic economic committee of the lower chamber! Great news, right? But Hembe ruined it all, and soon found himself at the heart of a mighty bribery allegation.

His committee had picked an unusual interest in the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and decided to probe it. The committee accused Arunma Oteh, Director-General of the agency, of squandering a princely N30 million on hotel accommodation in just eight months, expending N850,000 (later clarified as N85,000 for a meal eaten by a team of experts) on just a meal. In a matter of days, the committee claimed to have unearthed documents proving underhand dealings in the handling of the DG’s accommodation and official cars.

Not one to go down alone, Oteh fought back, alleging that the committee had demanded a combined bribe of N44million from her. She said “Hembe lacks credibility. For instance, he collected estacode and other travel allowances from the Securities and Exchange Commission to travel to the Dominican Republic on a capacity enhancement conference for capital market regulators. He did not go neither did he return the money collected.”
She added that he also “asked the commission to contribute N39 million towards the ongoing charade of a public hearing and demanded another N5 million cash on Tuesday, March 13, 2012. He made both demands by proxy. So, I doubt it if I can have fair hearing from this committee and this fact has been more than demonstrated with the way you are handling this important issue.” Hembe could not wrestle himself out of the allegations.

In February 2017, the House of Representatives mandated its committee on Federal Capital Territory to investigate the Centenary City project in Abuja.
On the first day of the hearing, a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Pius Anyim, accused Hembe, who was the chairman of the committee, of pursuing a personal agenda.
When it was time for Mr. Anyim to speak, he said “Mr. Chairman, I want to put it to you that you have personal motives, you have told everyone who cared to listen that when the former Director General of the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) Ms. Arunma Oteh accused you of demanding bribe, you have pushed for her sack and I refused to sack her as the SGF, so this is an opportunity to get back at me.

“You have been threatening to conduct this public hearing for over one year now, we only discovered your game plan for all the postponement when you started sending messages to the Managing Director to come and see you privately, I want you to know that nobody will come and see you privately”.

Hembe also engaged in a war of words with the former chairman of the House Appropriation committee, Abdulmumuni Jibrin, after the House suspended the latter for one year when he accused the leadership of budget padding.

Hembe has often diverted constituency projects meant for Vandeikya/Konshisha federal constituency and names the projects as his own. He deceives the people into believing that he is working for them. He diverted a road meant for the Jechira constituency to Nyiman in Makurdi and called it his project.

Such a man with a stinking record of corruption and cult activities does not possess the credentials to lead Benue State as Governor. He should better jettison the idea and stop wasting his resources.


* Pitila writes from Gboko, Benue State

A Makurdi High Court has issued an order of interim injunction, restraining the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), its National Working Committee (NWC), National Executive Committee (NEC) or its National Officers (elected or appointed) from expelling the governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom.

Justice A.I Itoyonyiman issued the order on Thursday following a Suit with number MHC/46/2023 which was brought before the court on Wednesday, February 15th, 2023.

In the suit, Governor  Ortom is the Plaintiff/Applicant while Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) are first and second Defendant/ Respondents respectively.

The court upon hearing the Affidavit of Hon. Abraham Kwaghngu, Politician, Nigerian Citizen of Governor's Office, Benue State Government House, Makurdi, Benue State, sworn to and filed at the High Court Registry, Makurdi on 15th February, 2023 made the following order:

“Restraining the 1" Defendant/Respondent either by itself or its National Working Committee and/or it National Executive Council and/or its National officers (elected or appointed) and/or its North- Central Zonal Executive Officers (elected or appointed) and/or its Benue State Officers (elected or appointed) and/or its Guma Local Government Area Officers (elected or appointed) and/or its Nzorov Council Ward Officers (elected or appointed) or any of its other organs or officials (anyhow so called) from expelling, suspending or levying any other punishment on the Plaintiff/Applicant pending the determination of the Motion on Notice for Interlocutory Injunction.

“An interim order of injunction is also made restraining the 2nd Defendant/Respondent either by itself or any of its Officials/Officers/Directors/Departmental or other Heads/any other officer by whatever name called from receiving and/or acting upon any communication made by the 1st Defendant/Respondent seeking to disqualify from contesting or seeking not to be placed on the ballot paper the name of the Plaintiff/Applicant as the 1st Defendant's candidate for the Benue North West Senatorial District in the 2023 general election pending the determination of the Motion on Notice for Interlocutory Injunction.

“An order of interim injunction is made restraining the 2nd or Defendant/Respondent either by itself any of its Officials/Officers/Directors/Departmental or other Heads/any other officer by whatever name called from refusing for whatever reason to place the name of the Plaintiff/Applicant on the ballot to contest the Benue North West Senatorial election slated for February 25th, 2023 or any other rescheduled dated pending the determination of the Motion on Notice for Interlocutory Injunction”.

Governor Ortom had earlier approached the court with the following demands:

“An Order of interim injunction restraining the 1st Defendant/Respondent either by itself, or its National Working Committee, and/or its National Executive Council, and/or its National Officers (elected or appointed), and/or its North-Central Zonal Executive Officers (elected or appointed), and/or its Benue State officers (elected or appointed), and/or its Nzorov Council Ward Officers (elected or appointed), or any of its other organs or officials (anyhow so called) from expelling, suspending or levying any other punishment on the Plaintiff/Applicant, pending the determination of the Motion on Notice for Interlocutory Injunction.

“An Order of interim injunction restraining the 2nd Defendant/Respondent either by itself or any of its Officials/Officers/Directors/Departmental or other Heads/any other officer by whatever name called, from receiving and or acting upon any communication made by the 1 Defendant/Respondent seeking to disqualify from contesting or seeking not to be placed on the ballot paper the name of the Plaintiff/Applicant as the 1st Defendant's candidate for the Benue North West Senatorial District in the 2023 general elections, pending the determination of the Motion on Notice for Interlocutory Injunction.

“An Order of interim injunction restraining the 2nd Defendant/Respondent either by itself or any of its Officials/Officers/Directors/Departmental or other Heads/any other officer by whatever name called, from refusing for whatever reason to place the name of the Plaintiff/Applicant on the ballot, to contest the Benue North West Senatorial election, slated for 25th February, 2023 or any other rescheduled dated, pending the determination of the Motion on Notice for Interlocutory Injunction”.

The matter has been slated for hearing on the 24th of February, 2023.


Nathaniel Ikyur
Chief Press Secretary,
February 16th, 2023

…As PDP Rally Witnesses Low Turnout 

By Vincent Atondu

Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Benue State have expressed their disappointment in the Peoples Democratic Party Presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar for failing to condemn the attacks on their communities which have forced them into different camps for more than five years. 

The IDPs were reacting to what they called “Atiku’s lame statement” when he addressed the PDP presidential rally yesterday at Aper Aku stadium in Makurdi. Atiku, while speaking on the occasion, said if elected, he will ensure that peace returns between herdsmen and farmers in Benue state and also promised to provide security. But he failed to condemn the attacks by his Fulani kinsmen on the state. This has angered those who are in IDP camps and some of them vehemently spoke out and vowed to reject the PDP presidential candidate during the coming elections. Remember that INEC has made arrangements to give IDPs the opportunity to also vote. 

One of the IDPs Tersur Ayaga who spoke in Tiv language at the Abagena camp said “what is more disturbing to us is the fact that Atiku makes campaign promises to ensure security, but is not being sincere. His silence over the killing of our people shows that he will be worse than Buhari. We were waiting yesterday to hear him condemn the attacks on us and warn his Fulani people who have occupied our communities to leave, but he didn’t do anything like that. We don’t trust him”.

Another member of the camp, Mrs Bridget Shember said Atiku’s refusal to visit the camp and sympathize with them when he knows that he needs their votes is proof that he is only pretending about what he said that he will provide security. 

“Since his brothers started killing us, he has been in Benue state but not bothered to know how we are surviving. Atiku has never sent even a bag of garri to us. Is it when he has power that he will remember us? I don’t believe him ooo” 

A young man named Jonathan Mnenga who lost both parents during the 2018 twin attacks on Guma and Logo and has been living with his younger siblings in the Daudu IDP camp, broke down in tears while reacting to what he described as Atiku’s mockery of the victims.

“Who will vote for Atiku if all Benue people are killed before the elections? He has shown hatred towards the people of the state. For him, the lives of cows are more important than the lives of human beings. Does Atiku care to know how I and my younger ones feed? All he wants from us are our votes. I won’t vote for a man who does not believe that I exist”. 

The Benue IDPs pointed out that as the “Zege Mule u Tiv” Atiku has not visited the state even once to say ‘thank you’ to the people after they voted for him in 2019 when he defeated President Buhari in the state. Nearly two million Benue people have been displaced with over 6,000 deaths recorded as a result of herdsmen attacks on Benue state. 

As the 2023 general elections draw closer, the PDP Presidential candidate has an enormous burden to win the confidence of the Benue people. Unfortunately, observers say Atiku does not seem to realize this fact. They fear that he will be only for a section of the country and not for all Nigerians. That he will pamper and protect Fulani terrorists because of his ethnicity. These and more fundamental issues are starring Atiku in the face as we head to the 2023 polls.

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 A Nigerian woman by the name of Chiamaka Agim has disclosed the response that she received from Zenith Bank in response to her complaint that more than N4 million mysteriously vanished from her Zenith Bank account.

As a socio-political group, we the Friends of Terver Akase, FOTA read with great displeasure how Hyacinth Alia, the disputed APC governorship candidate in Benue State literally lifted ideas from
the guber manifesto of our principal, Mr Terver Akase to develop the document he presented before the media on Sunday 8th January 2023 morning in his Makurdi residence. We find this approach appalling, deceitful and unacceptable.

FOTA observes that in the said document which is tagged "A Strategic Development Plan for A Greater Benue”, Alia copiously used ideas from our principal's gubernatorial manifesto titled "Benue' S-WEALTH Template" which was officially presented to the public on February 25, 2022 and is available at www.terverakase.com for open access to anyone in any part of the world.

We expect Alia to have known that lifting our principal's ideas contained in his manifesto without permission and the deserved credit given to him is a crime punishable under extant laws of this country. If a man who aspires to govern the state is bereft of ideas of his own to the extent of simply copying another person's ideas and presenting them as his, then, there is a great cause for worry.

Akase’s manifesto had a 7-point agenda. Alia has adopted the same 7-point agenda in what he falsely claims to be his document. A perusal of the sectors such as Security, Education and Agriculture will leave no reader in doubt that the document is a wholesome adaptation of Akase’s original manifesto.

We strongly condemn Alia's deliberate crude approach in plagiarizing our principal's manifesto. We are however not surprised that the APC candidate could go this way which clearly exposes his unpreparedness for the enormous task of governance. It is glaring that he lacks the basic ideas about governance and policy formulation. As the Latin phrase summarizes, 'Nemo dat quod non habet' - 'you cannot give what you do not have' which Alia has clearly demonstrated that he has no depth.

Given his crafty and abysmal conduct, Benue people must understand the shallowness and lackluster disposition of the APC guber candidate in his desperate political ambition which continues to hang in the balance.

FOTA demands that Alia should immediately retract the plagiarized document and tender an unreserved apology to our principal, Mr Akase. Failure to do so, we will be left with no option than to seek redress in a competent court of justice.


Enoch Tsambe
FOTA Media Coordinator,
10th January, 2023.

 The Governor of Ekiti State, Biodun Oyebanji, and his Deputy, Mrs. Monisade Afuye, have both had their elections validated by the Election Petition Tribunal.

By Joe Nashima

A cold war is brewing between the leader of All Progressives Congress APC in Benue state and the governorship candidate of the party hon. Hyacinth Alia which is threatening to sink the party before the 2023 elections.

By Samson Ochono

The 2023 governorship election in Benue State may just be a walkover for the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Rt Hon Titus Uba. I say this without any shred of doubt or equivocation because the coast seems to be getting clearer for Uba each passing day. His supposed main challenger, Hyacinth Alia of All Progressives Congress, APC has a mountain of problems that have already buried his ambition.

Most of the obstacles facing Alia are self inflicted. They are unforced errors which are too late to be corrected and his disposition does not look like one who is ready to learn from the bitter experience of Emmauel Jime who flew the APC governorship flag in 2019 and was defeated by Governor Samuel Ortom.

One of Alia’s pitfalls is his links with some Fulani governors and groups such as Miyetti Allah who are believed to be sponsoring him to win and repeal the Benue open grazing prohibition and ranches establishment law to grant herders free access to lands in Benue State. This is the same factor that sank Jime in 2019.

For some years now, Benue people have been fighting a survival war against the Fulani jihadists who are bent on taking over the Benue Valley to occupy. Anyone who enjoys the support of the Fulani oligarchs and pastoralists is outrightly rejected by Benue people. Alia has been seen in several pictures with Governor El-Rufai of Kaduna, Governor Bello Masari of Katsina and Miyetti Allah groups after closed door meetings where he is believed to have promised the Fulanis that he will do their bidding, if elected.

The story has spread rapidly across the Benue landscape and now many people including the rural folks have been discussing the issue in market places, beer joints etc. Alia seems to have lost the election even before we enter the year 2023! He now has the moral burden to reject the billions thrown at him by the Fulani or face humiliation at the polls. But does he have the moral strength and conscience to resist the lure of Fulani billions? No! I understand that he loves good money and the good things of life.

Benue people have made up their minds about who they want as Governor. Their survival is non-negotiable! They won’t be voting for a man who will turn them to slaves for Fulani in their homeland. They won’t be voting for a man whose loyalty lies with their perennial attackers. They won’t be voting for a man who has refused to sympathize with thousands of those who have been displaced by killer herders and forced to live in IDP camps for years.

The other factor that has defeated Alia even before 2023 is the man who brought him to contest for governorship. George Akume has a reputation for destroying those he helps to ascend the position of Governor. He attempted it against Governor Gabriel Suswam and did the same against Governor Samuel Ortom. Though he did not succeed in destroying the two gentlemen, he is on record as a godfather who does not allow his godson the free hand to work. Alia is a novice in politics so Akume can easily manipulate him. Even Ortom and Suswam who are highly experienced in the game of politics did not find it funny working with Akume.

The last factor that is Alia’s biggest albatross is his ego and untrustworthiness. He is known to be a very arrogant person who claims to know it all. Those on his campaign team have complained often that their candidate is not a team player. He is also associated with corruption dating back to when he was still a practicing priest.
Alia eagerly accepted the result of the sham primary election that his party conducted when every other person saw the nomination as fraud of the highest level.

The conclusion of observers and analysts is that Titus Uba has no real challenger going into the election. Even if Alia survives the lawsuits against him at the Court of Appeal (which I doubt that he will), the people have already made their choice and he is not that choice.


* Ochono writes from Apo, Abuja.

…Switches off Phone as Thugs Chase Supporters from his gate

By Vincent Ogbu

Reliable sources within the All Progressives Congress APC in Benue state have it that the disputed governorship candidate, Hon. Hyacinth Alia has absconded with the money sent to him as the state coordinator of the Bola Tinubu presidential campaign to do Christmas for members of the party.

 Following their victory over France in the 2022 FIFA World Cup final, Argentina have been named the winners of the tournament.

 The Most Reverend Daniel Okoh, President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), has given the citizens of Nigeria the assurance that the general elections in 2023 will not result in the dissolution of the country.

This remark was made by Okoh as he was emphasizing the fact that God has already chosen people who will rule the country.

He claimed that God was on Nigeria's side and that because of this, the country would not fall apart.

The promise was provided by Okoh during his speech at a Christmas Concert held in Asaba, which is located in the state of Delta.

The President of the CAN pleaded with Nigerians to cast their ballots for candidates who would improve the country's economic situation and assured them that God would not leave Nigeria to its own devices.

Okoh claims that the upcoming election will not be enough to bring Nigeria to its knees. In point of fact, 2023 is the year that Nigeria has the best chance of realizing its full potential.

"God has already chosen those who will lead the people come 2023, and since God is interested in the government and the economy of men, then the people should be involved because God will use the people to turn things around for the country." [T]he people should be involved because God will use the people to turn things around for the country.

The President of the CAN also helped to alleviate the fears of the Nigerian people by emphasizing that God was concerned in the administration of the country.

By Peter Ahenakaa

If there is anyone who should not be talking about governing Benue State in 2023, such a person is Hyacinth Alia, the man whose only achievement is conducting fake healing masses and stealing church funds and building materials to build mansions for himself and his many women.

That man is not a priest. He only used the priesthood to hide and commit atrocities. This is why an old priest like him didn’t have a parish where he was presiding as the priest before he abandoned the work of God to have more time for worldly pleasures.

Alia is also a very corrupt man. In all the places he served as a priest, there are records of his mismanagement of funds and embezzlement to build mansions for himself and his women.


A Randy Priest

In 32 years of being a priest, Alia who is better known as ‘Orhiti’ for his sexual escapades with women, did not build even a toilet for the church. The money that poor parishioners raised through their meager efforts, he squandered it all with a life of pleasures - alcoholism and womanizing. He diverted the trailer-load of cement generously donated to the Catholic Church by philanthropists at Anum near BSU and used it to build the house he and his women call the “white house” in New GRA.

Alia violated the Oath of Celibacy many times. The oath of celibacy is the state of a Catholic priest remaining unmarried and totally abstaining from sexual activities. But here is a priest who has not only violated that oath but also had children with different women from Nigeria and abroad. The church confirmed his illicit acts and decided not to give him any parish to head. He is believed to have not less than 16 children by 12 different women.

Some of his sex partners are married women. He has caused them to divorce their husbands. The reason he no longer had a parish was that once he was assigned to head a parish, one of his foreign women who is a Canadian with whom he had a child would write a petition to the Bishop. The church has not been able to reply her petitions and justify why Alia should be a parish priest.


Fake Healing Masses

Alia deceived many unsuspecting people in the 1990s and early 2000s with fake miracles of healing of sick people. Till today, he can’t point to anyone who is a well known person in any part of Benue State who was cured by his “healing miracles''. The good thing is that the church soon discovered his fake life and many people stopped attending his “healing masses”.


He Lacks Credibility

In politics, people's antecedents are a prerequisite for trusting them with bigger responsibilities and Alia's case cannot be different. We must ask questions. Who is Alia? Has he been a successful priest? If yes, which development did he bring to those parishes he served in?
What was his conduct and relationship with his parishioners and his relationship with his superiors?


His Conspiracy With Enemies of Benue

Alia has been meeting secretly with some northern Governors and other individuals and groups of Fulani extraction. The Fulani have made a deal with him and are sponsoring him so he can win and give them free access to land in Benue State.  Alia eagerly promised them that the first time he will do, if elected, is to repeal the open grazing prohibition and ranches establishment law of the state. He has met with the diminutive Governor of Kaduna State and that of Katsina State on several occasions to perfect the deal. He is on the payroll of the Fulani.


His Failure As Priest

Alia served in many parishes including St Thomas The Apostle Quasi-Parish Anum, opposite BSU First Gate, Makurdi.
 
 1.  He started a perimeter fence at Anum and left it half-way.
 2. Built a children's church with mere wooden poles.
3. He didn’t even build a toilet there.

4. He merely repainted Father's house within the Anum church premises and claimed that the repainting cost N120m. The missing church money has remained unaccounted for since then.

Alia left the Parish without executing any meaningful project within his five years as the senior priest in that Parish with all the foreign donations that he received on behalf of the church. His successor Rev. Fr Jude Ortese has so far spent 6 years in the Parish as a junior priest but has done remarkable things with meager resources at his disposal. He has completed the perimeter fence started by the church and also redesigned and rebuilt father's house and finished the same with state-of- the-art facilities.

People must be held accountable for their deeds and be made to suffer the consequences of their actions and inaction. Alia has not done well in church leadership and does not qualify to seek higher responsibilities.


* Ahenakaa writes from Agedam in Gboko.

 Ekiti State's new governor, Abiodun Oyebanji, is a member of the All Progressives Congress, or APC. He was inducted into office earlier today.

On Sunday, at approximately 12:53 p.m., Oyebanji went to the government house of the state to take his oath of office.

Justice Oyewole Adeyeye, who is also the Chief Judge of the State, administered the oath of office to the former Secretary to the State Government (SSG).

A number of notable
dignitaries were in attendance, including Bola Tinubu, the presidential candidate for the All Progressives Congress (APC), Rotimi Akeredolu, governor of Ondo State, and Simon Lalong, governor of Plateau State.

There are also others, such as Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos, Godwin Obaseki of Edo, Governor Abubakar Badaru of Jigawa, and Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun.

After receiving 187,057 votes in the election for governor of Ekiti State, Oyebanji was announced as the winner of the race.

He prevailed over his two closest opponents, Segun Oni of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and Bisi Kolawole of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), each of whom received 67,457 votes. Oni received 82,211 votes, and Kolawole received 67,457 votes.