One of the greatest problems of partisan politics in Nigeria is the recurrence of power mongering, forced godfatherism and the poverty of restraints wielded by some so-called party strongmen. The tendency for these strongmen to impose candidates, trample on party structures and make themselves into institutions has been the bane of party supremacy. From the days of Lamidi Adedibu, the strongman of Ibadan politics, to the failed attempt by Adams Oshiomhole to play god over Edo politics, so-called party strong men have seen mixed fortunes. However, this has not stopped other would-be stalwarts from traveling this thorny path. The swift fallout between the immediate-past governor Nyesome Wike (now minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT) and his political godson, Governor Simi Fubera, of Rivers state, ought to be a ready example of the fruitlessness of strong-arm politics. But if there is any disease among Nigerian politicians that has no cure, it is selective amnesia.
The situation in Benue state, where the governor, Reverend Father Hyacinth Alia, is facing, perhaps, the greatest trial of his faith and politics typifies the typical Nigerian party politics. The insinuation in Makurdi, the Benue state capital, and within the state’s All Progressives Congress (APC) circle is that George Akume, Secretary to Government of the Federation (SGF), a man vast in the art of politics Nigeriana, having served as governor of Benue state on the platform of Nigeria’s main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), is at the heart of Governor Alia’s political troubles.
It is rumoured that Governor Alia fell out of favour with the SGF over the emergence of Hyacinth Dajoh as Speaker of the Benue State House of Assembly through a thoroughly democratic process. This, eventuality, was said not to have gone down well with Akume, whose anointed candidate was his former media aide, Backy Orpin. The poll was so keenly contested that Dajoh won with only two votes. Indication that trouble was brewing for the APC was the depth of animosity that played out immediately after the election right on the floor of the assembly as party stalwarts went close to fisticuffs.
Things got to a head when Governor Alia decided, like many other governors, to replace 21 out of the 23 fraudulently elected local government chairmen with caretaker chairmen. To the unpracticed eye, the push back registered by the 23 APC local government chairmen, accusing the governor of abandoning stakeholders to strike out alone, may seem like a genuine call for party supremacy. But, in truth, the resolution by the APC local government chairmen was a well-rehearsed plot to discredit the governor.
The fake display of righteous indignation, when the local government chairmen appear to feign worry over the manner in which the governor is running the state without carrying them along despite being elected on the platform of the APC right from the inception of his administration, was simply a smokescreen. It was a calculated attempt to start plugging away at Governor Alia’s focus on governance. As subsequent attacks on the person of the governor would reveal, many of these so-called APC leaders were acting a script, the director, an accomplished politician, pulling the leash from the nation’s capital.
What is happening in Benue state is power mongering in its most primitive form. The governor of the state is legally the leader of the party. That is the tradition of Nigeria’s politics. Yet, many expected Governor Alia to allow himself to be steamrolled into submission by political thugs loyal to you know who. It was, therefore, not surprising when several schemes were sponsored to give the APC in Benue state the semblance of a party in crisis just to split into factions, following the removal of Austin Agada as the party chairman in response to his suspension from the party by his Ehaje ward.
When Austin Agada was restrained from parading himself as APC chairman by a court of competent jurisdiction, one would have thought the man will respect the judiciary and take his medicine without complaint. But that was not the case. Backed by Abuja cover, Agada continued to parade himself as chairman long after the party’s executive committee had appointed Benjamin Omakolo as acting party chairman.
Governor Alia demonstrated astute leadership when he outlawed political rallies in the state in the face of what was poised to be a bloody clash between the Agada led faction of the party and the Omakolo leadership. It must be said that Agada has shown that he is just a puppet nodding along to the ludicrous machinations of the Abuja big man. The manner in which Agada allowed himself to be used against the progress of Benue state betrays whatever claims he thinks he has over the party that brought Governor Alia to power.
Alia is the goose laying APC’s golden egg in Benue state. And it is just shocking that instead of Agada following him to guarantee his party remains with a shout in the general scheme of things, he is burning bridges, and we all know who comes out on top. In this respect, Edo state readily comes to mind. Not even Adams Oshiomhole’s national leadership of the APC was enough muscle to oust Governor Godwin Obaseki when he cross-carpeted to the PDP.
I believe it bears reminding the Abuja godfather that it was Alia’s personality and not necessarily the APC’s that took the polls away from former Governor Samuel Ortom and the PDP. I wonder what would become of APC if Alia were to take a dignified leave of the party. Agada and his co-travelers must ponder this and other possibilities before staying on his puppeteer train to nowhere. I join the legion of Benue people calling for a cessation of hostilities. It’s time to allow our governor focus on governance.
Mubarak, a public affairs analyst, writes from Abuja.