Benue Governor Hyacinth Alia has shown signs of cracking under the pressure of sustained attacks on his administration as opposition elements intensify efforts to make him the third one-tenure Governor in Nigeria after former governors Ambode and Fubara respectively of Lagos and Rivers States. Of the five possible opponents threatening Alia's return to the Benue Government House, the governor's attack dogs have zeroed in on Michael Kaase Aondoakaa, a SAN and former Attorney General of Nigeria who is the gubernatorial candidate of the PDP as well as the face of a 'strategic partnership' in next year's elections. The partnership is a curious development in Benue State in which the Benue PDP is working with the George Akume faction of the State APC to ensure that Alia is voted out in the 2027 elections. The strategy was initiated and popularized by immediate past Governor of the State Chief Samuel Ortom. Taking advantage of the open rift between the Governor and his estranged godfather Akume, Ortom has been a target of sustained attacks by the Alia administration since it came to power, alleging maladministration against his predecessor. Several denials by the former governor have been ignored, including a challenge that Alia should take him to court and tender any evidence of malfeasance against him. The partnership is believed to be the mastermind behind Governor Alia's failure to get his APC national assembly nominees through the party's national secretariat as well as making his second tenure uncertain. Signs of Alia's anxiety came via a press statement in which Solomon Iopev, the Governor's Technical Adviser on Media, Publicity and Strategic Communication attacked the former Attorney General over failure of the Federal government to pay compensation to victims of the 2011 military invasion of Gbeji and Vaase in which hundreds of civilians lost their lives and several settlements were razed. The Governor's targetting of the PDP guber aspirant is because Aondoakaa has been one of the most trenchant critics of the Alia administration. In Yelwata during a visit to commemmorate the anniversary of the killing of more than two hundred civilians in that settlement, Aondoakaa launched a frontal attack on the governor, accusing him of diverting state funds to personal use while denying security agencies funds needed to secure the state. He harped on the same theme when he also paid a condolence to Otukpo'nobi where Fulani bandits attacked and killed tens of persons including pregnant women and children. The PDP Guber candidate is said to have boasted that he has already assembled about thirty two other SANs in reasiness for any attempts from any quarters to rig him out of next year's elections. He is widely believed to have the financial resources to back up his claim.

Posted: 4weeks ago

Author: Editor in Chief

Current date: 14 August 2026