Benue House of Assembly members, therefore, asked the governor to nominate another person in place of the nominee
By Kehinde Okeowo
Vincent Gisaor, a nominee of Benue State Governor, Hyacinth Alia, for membership of the Benue State Independent Electoral Commission was on Thursday rejected by the state’s House of Assembly members.
The lawmakers unanimously refused to confirm the nominee, after one of its members alleged that he insulted the Tiv tribe via a post on his Facebook page.
Gisaor was one of the eight nominees for the state electoral commission submitted for screening a few days before the screening exercise.
His name was submitted alongside other nominees such as Dr John Chen (Chairman), Theodore Uchi, Terhemen Shom, Solomon Deva, Peter Ogagbolo, Edache Isaac and Gloria Clement.
However, at the plenary session on Thursday, a member of the House, representing Konshisha State Constituency, Cephas Dyako called the attention of his colleagues to a old social media post made by Gisaor prior to his nomination.
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According to him, the nominee, in a Facebook post, made derogatory remarks about the entire Tiv ethnic group in the state.
Dyako told his colleagues: “Mr Gisaor said in Tiv dialect ‘your nyash’ to all the Tiv people in his post, which I find very derogatory from a person of his standing.”
He went on to say a netizen later took to the comment section of the post, advising him to delete it and apologise but he vehemently refused to do so.
Reacting to the allegation, the nominee explained that it was a mix-up, saying he met an elderly woman during a fight between the Yarev and Ikparev people of Tyo-mu in Makurdi and it was the woman who insulted the Tiv people while talking to him.
“I was merely quoting the woman but the recording I made of the woman’s reply to me when I asked what caused the fight, unfortunately, got deleted from the post,” Gisaor said while defending himself.
Despite his explanation, the legislators refused to buy his story as they all agreed that he was not fit to hold such a public office and urged the House not to confirm his nomination.
Ruling on the matter, the Speaker, Hyacinth Dajoh, said the nominee never quoted anyone while making the post, so it was assumed that it was his opinion.
Dajoh, therefore, asked the governor to nominate another person in place of Gisaor.
