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January 10, 2023


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.

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December 29, 2022

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




The plea of Mr. Segun Oni, the candidate for governorship put forth by the Social Democratic Party (SDP), was rejected by the Tribunal in its verdict delivered on Thursday in Ado-Ekiti.

In the ruling that was read by the Chairman, Justice Wilfred Kpochi and a member of the Panel, Justice Sa'ad Zadawa, resolved all of the matters that had been brought up in dispute against Oni and his party, SDP.

According to the decision made by the Panel, the appeal that Oni submitted in opposition to the repatriation of Oyebanji and Afuye respectively "failed horribly head or tail."

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December 29, 2022

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.




Tuesday 27th December 2022 was the leader’s birthday but Alia refused to wish him a happy birthday celebration. 48 hours later, no such message has come from the embattled candidate. I will tell you why.

Trouble between the two began when two northern (Fulani) governors sent N500 million to support the ambition of the suspended priest who had visited them and pledged to serve the Fulani interest, if elected as Benue governor. The governors however decided to channel the N500 million through the Benue APC leader (Lida) who refused to release it Alia.
The disputed candidate was very angry and expressed his frustration with some of his friends. The two northern governors also will later find out that Lida cornered the funds for himself.
Since that time, the relationship between the two men has not remained the same.

Another strong cause of the friction between Lida and Alia is the wife. Alia’s close relationship with Lida’s wife is beginning to raise doubts and suspicion in the minds of those close to the former first family of the state. Madam is the one who brought Alia knowing that as a reverend father, he doesn’t have a wife so she would assume the position of first lady for a second time. Alia calls madman even at odd hours and speaks in romantic tunes. The ugly scenario has created a gulf between him and Lida.

That is why you have not seen Lida at any campaign event organized by Alia.

Then there is a former female House of Reps member representing Jechira who is also hotly contesting for the position of first lady in the event that Alia wins. Another group of ladies who are girlfriends of Alia recently began to print posters and billboards to campaign for him. He has children with some of the ladies. They have vowed to slug it out with the “old ladies” and install one of them as the First Lady.

As the Court of Appeal prepares to rule on the cases brought before it against Alia, the man’s headache has increased. He is already regretting why he left priesthood to pursue a mirage.
 

* Nashima writes from Akpehe, Makurdi

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December 27, 2022

By Samson Ochono

The governorship candidate of All Progressives Congress APC in Benue State, Hon Hyacinth Alia is not pretending about his connection with Fulani oligarchs and pastoralists. He is ready to do the dirty job of the undertaker who would blink no eye in sacrificing his people and hurrying them to their early graves in exchange for wads of currency and power.

The report that he is being sponsored by a group of Fulani governors led by the diminutive governor of Kaduna State began like a joke until the suspended priest was seen in photographs with the Kaduna Governor and other prominent Fulani persons.

Benue people woke up one day in June 2022 to read a shocking news report which quoted Alia as blaming the insecurity in the state on the youths of the state. He tagged the youths as idle minds who indulge in gossip and communal clashes.

That was his maiden outing to impress his sponsors and to assure them that he is committed to the terms of the agreement they entered into in Kaduna that they would support him so that if he wins, he will grant them free access to Benue State and repeal the law prohibiting open grazing of cattle.

A few months later, he was appointed as the coordinator of the Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket of APC in the state. In his excitement, he began to compose songs in praise of Bola Tinubu and Kashim Shetima. The songs sparked negative reactions even from some of his supporters who felt disappointed and betrayed. It was all about his selfish interest.

A few weeks ago, some Fulani groups met in Lafia, Nasarawa State and declared that Alia is their candidate for the 2023 governorship election in Benue state. The groups vowed to mobilize support for him to win the election so that he can fulfill his side of the agreement - to give them lands in the state to occupy.

The report of his endorsement by Fulani groups was widely published by the media. If anyone had doubts about the earlier reports that Alia is an agent of Fulani, such a person needed no further proof after the Lafia endorsement. He has not come out to distance himself from the endorsement up till now.

Alia has been in constant touch with the Governors of Kaduna and Katsina as well as other Fulani fundamentalists who are bent on installing a governor in Benue State to serve their interests. The first time they sent money to him running into hundreds of millions, his benefactor George Akume reportedly hijacked the funds. The issue caused a serious brawl between him and Akume on one hand and the minister’s wife Regina on the other hand.

The questions every Benue voter must ask before casting his ballot in next year’s election are:
1. Why has Alia not condemned the herdsmen attacks on Benue communities since he became a candidate?
2. Why has he not visited any of the IDP camps to sympathize with victims of the attacks?
3. Why has he visited Kaduna and Katsina many times since June this year?
4. Why has Alia not made any public statement regarding his endorsement by Miyetti Allah groups?


* Ochono writes from Apo, Abuja.

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December 27, 2022

 

Hassan Muhammad Nasiha, the Deputy Governor of Zamfara State, has issued a call to the various sports stakeholders in the state, urging them not to politicize the process of selecting football players for the state's squad.

This was expressed by the former senator during the reception and presentation of the award to Ibrahim Musa Gusau, who is the President of the Nigerian Football Federation, and Aminu Mammaga, who is the State Acting Chairman of the Zamfara State Football Association.

The Deputy Governor said that it was time for the state to recover its lost sports image by selecting competent and motivated athletes who would represent the state without any feelings attached to their performance.

He went on to say that in order for a state to be successful in producing a pride squad, it must steer clear of using politics and personal interests in the process of selecting professional players.

He asked the president of the NFF to think of his election as a challenge not just to him but to the whole of the northern area as a whole.

Mr. Mamuda Aliyu Shinkafi, a former governor of Zamfara State, made some statements in which he referred to football as "global politics." He said that via football, togetherness and understanding may be fostered.

During the event, the president of the NFF expressed his desire to be involved in the promotion of football activities around the country.

Gusau issued a call to action to the Zamfara State FA, requesting that they make a deliberate selection of the qualifying players from the state for further screening at the national level.

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December 26, 2022

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.


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