More than a year after his removal, Aondona Dajoh recently claimed that he was removed as Speaker of the Benue State House of Assembly after he refused to support Gov. Hyacinth Alia's plan to relocate the Palace of the Tor Tiv from Gboko, the traditional headquarters of the Tiv Nation to Ihugh, the governor’s hometown in Vandeikya Local Government Area. Dajo also alleged that the Governor had deployed public funds to remove the State's Chief Judge Justice Ikpambese in the farmer's quest to emasculated democracy in the state. Speaking at a public forum recently, the former Speaker stated that his opposition to the attempt to move the revered Tor Tiv Palace from its ancestral location in Gboko, deeply angered Governor Alia who immediately sponsored his removal as speaker. He said the Governor personally conveyed the relocation proposal through an official communication, which he immediately rejected. “Governor Alia sent a letter to me directing that I should relocate the Tor Tiv Palace from Gboko to his community, Ihugh. I rejected the idea. I told him that he wanted to kill me. This was one of my biggest offenses,” Dajoh stated. He further alleged that following his refusal, influential figures within the governor’s inner circle told him pointedly that his speakership would not survive. “When I rejected the idea of moving the Tor Tiv Palace to the governor’s hometown, Moses Ternenge, (one of the two most powerful men around Governor Alia), told me that if I rejected the proposal, I should consider that as the end of my speakership,” he alleged. Dajoh also accused Governor Alia of deploying public resources in what he described as a failed attempt to remove the Chief Judge of Benue State, Justice Maurice Ikpambese and claimed that over N200 million was allegedly expended in the process. In a further swipe at the governor, Dajoh referenced a statement allegedly made by Alia during a 2023 pre-election political event in Jemgbagh, where the governor declared that anyone who oppressed the people of the area would be afflicted with madness, and asserted that the governor had himself gone against the interests of Jemgbagh people through a series of political decisions. “It was on this soil that Alia stood and said anybody who beats the Jemgbagh people will be inflicted with madness. But Alia has beaten Tor Jemgbagh, Ter Gboko, taken the Jemgbagh Speaker to another zone, beaten their sons, so he has been inflicted with madness,” Dajoh declared.

Posted: 4months ago

Author: Chief Editor

Current date: 18 October 2026