By Amos Aar
THE CRISES rocking the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the major opposition political party, People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Benue State have thrown supporters, particularly aspirants, into confusion in the runup to the forthcoming local government.
In the APC, the major point of conflict is the raging acrimony between Governor Hyacinth Alia and his estranged godfather, Senator George Akume, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF).
The protracted feud between the two, which began even before Rev. Fr. Alia was sworn in on May 29, 2023, has literally split the APC into two contending factions. While Governor Alia seems to have the upper hand at the state level, SGF Akume is at the moment obviously in control at the national level of the party thus creating the impression that the Catholic priest-turned politician may be forced to eventually opt out of the APC.
Things are also no longer at ease in the PDP, with two former governors of the state – Senator Gabriel Suswam and Mr Samuel Ortom – battling for supremacy.
National Record gathered from reliably sources within the APC that when Mr Benjamin Omakolo, the acting chairman of the Alia faction of the party, approached the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party to obtain forms for LG elections, the NWC declined to recognise him as Benue APC chairman.
A source familiar with the intrigues confided in National Record that a power broker in the party was able to facilitate a meeting between him and Alhaji Umar Ganduje, the APC National Chairman, who took him to meet with President Tinubu for a discussion.
However, Omakolo’s luck ran out as Tinubu was said to have referred him to meet with Senator Akume, being the leader of the APC North Central geopolitical zone.
Back home in Benue, Austin Agada, the chairman of the Akume faction of the APC, and the one recognised by the NWC, is in control of sale of forms to political aspirants.
Agada had fixed APC stakeholders meeting to be held at the APC state secretariat on August 15, 2024, but Governor Alia reportedly ordered that the meeting should not be held and warned that any attempt to violate his instruction would be met with consequences.
The governor was said to have directed that the office be locked up while a watertight security was beefed up around the secretariat thereby truncating the stakeholders meeting.
A day after the truncated meeting, confusion set in when both factions announced the sale of forms for chairmanship and councillorship positions for the local government elections.
At the moment, APC aspirants are still pondering over the legitimate faction from whom to purchase the form. Chairmanship form goes for N5 million while councillorship goes for N500,000.
PDP: It’s Ortom Vs Suswam
In the last two weeks, politicking in the PDP has also been intense, as Suswam and Ortom are engaged in a fractious thug of war. This has led to the suspension and counter-suspension by the two former governors and their loyalists until Ortom was reportedly pronounced as the leader when he resolved to sue for peace and unity in the party. Even with Ortom’s olive branch, Suswam’s faction has remained suspicious on the perception that Ortom is deliberately being tricky so as to hoodwink Suswam in order to have absolute grip of the party’s state leadership.
The continued disagreement and failed reconciliation are now evident in the divided interest in the conduct of local government congress slated for August 17,2024 (today). While the Ortom faction wants congress to be held in the six local government areas of Buruku, Gboko, Guma, Kwande, Ushongo, and Konshisha where ward congresses did not hold, Suswam’s faction is kicking against that, insisting that the exercise be held only in 17 LGAs pending the determination by the court as to why the congresses did not hold in the aforementioned LGAs, disenfranchising party members in those areas.
Their differences over the conduct of the local government congress has led to different interpretations of a court injunction by the two factions to suit their interests. While the PDP state publicity secretary, Mr Bemgba Iortyom, who was purportedly suspended along with Ortom and others, is quoting the Benue State High Court, Court 3, Gboko is said to have directed that congress be held in all the 23 LGAs including the six affected, Suswam’s loyalists are arguing that the court did not give such an order.
According to them, the Congress is to hold only in 17 LGAs today while the case has been adjourned to Monday, August 19, 2024. This development has posed serious confusion to members of the party and they are already losing sense of direction.
It is gathered that the rift between Ortom and Suswam is not far from the national PDP chairmanship ambition of the latter which the former is allegedly kicking against. Thus, the duo have resorted to struggling desperately to plant a state chairman of the party in the forthcoming congresses to be able to control the party’s state structures ahead of the national convention of the party.
As leadership crises linger in both APC and PDP, the followers are on the receiving end as many of them are now crying out that they have been caught in between the factions. Some of them say they supported some aspirants during the last general elections who are now occupying key positions and would have lifted them up but it’s impossible because they have now found themselves in different camps because of some affiliations like family but they can’t get the desired connections unfortunately.
Analysts say the ongoing intra party crises in Benue state have spelt doom against the forthcoming elections in the state if not addressed now.
