Former Benue State governor, Gabriel Suswam, attempts to claw back to political reckoning after a disastrous outing by his party in the last general elections, Special Correspondent, TERNA DOKI, writes.
Immediate past governor of Benue state, Gabriel Suswam, shocked both his critics and admirers on May 29, 2015 hand-over day. Going by conventions, Suswam was expected to perform the public hand-over of power to his successor, Governor Samuel Ortom. But the former governor did not turn up at the IBB Square, traditional venue of the event in Makurdi, the state capital. His deputy, Stephen Lawani, was also not present. Their absence caused some anxiety among the people.
It was, however, gathered that Suswam performed the hand-over ceremony the day before at Government House, Makurdi, and left the state.
To informed observers, Suswam’s action was hardly surprising. They argue that the former governor, before the date, had been under intense dilemma on whether to appear at the ceremony. It was, for instance, learnt that the loss of the presidential election in Benue by his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to its main challenger, the All Progressives Congress (APC), was an issue that Suswam could not face.
More than PDP losing out of the state’s politics, the former governor’s spirit was severely dampened, particularly following his inability to proceed to the Senate to represent Benue North-East senatorial district.
His rival in the race and an eleventh hour defector to the APC, Barnabas Gemade, trounced him at the senatorial ballot with vote difference of over 21,000.
As if that was not enough, the PDP also lost the governorship seat to the APC, apparently an indication to Suswam that he has completely lost grip of power in the state.
Suswam’s loss in the senatorial race, TheNiche gathered, marked the beginning of his nightmares. Most of his loyalists hurriedly dumped the PDP for the opposition, even before the governorship ballot was cast. In the bid to maintain a hold on power in the state, he belatedly embraced the campaigns of the PDP governorship candidate, Terhemen Tarzoor, whom he hitherto despised, in the hope that his victory at the polls could smoothen rough edges for him after leaving office. Last minute attempts to make things work positively and salvage the PDP from total collapse were fruitless, as Ortom of the APC floored Tarzoor incredibly.
To strike fresh alliance and friendship with the new powerbrokers in the state, Suswam dispatched congratulatory message to Ortom, even against his party’s directive. He also summoned the state caucus meeting of the PDP, where he dissuaded his party from contesting the outcome of the governorship polls in the tribunal against Ortom.
He also lent voice in canvassing support for the new government. In addition, he suddenly began courting Senator George Akume, Benue APC leader, who also won senatorial elections for the third time to represent Benue North-West on the platform of the party. Suswam promptly joined the campaign for the emergence of Akume, the former Minority Leader, as president of the eighth Senate. The campaign however did not achieve the desired result, as Akume not only did not run for the Senate presidency, but lost out of the Deputy Majority Leader position that his party had programmed him for, due to power play in the upper legislative chamber.
What particularly surprised observers in Suswam’s new-found engagement was that before the election, he had been at extreme opposite with the politicians he is currently labouring to curry their favour.
The former governor and Akume were, for example, barely on talking terms. Their problem, in fact, started when Suswam chased Akume, incidentally his benefactor, and his loyalists out of the PDP in 2011. But with his loss of the state and his loyalists abandoning him, Suswam, it is learnt, has been desperately looking for fresh alliance with his erstwhile opponents.
This is especially as it was obvious to him that Akume played key role in the emergence of Ortom as the governor and so could influence several issues in the state.
The major fear of the former governor, our reporter learnt, was the general public outcry against his administration that was presumed the worst in the history of Benue on account of bad leadership as shown in months of unpaid salaries to all categories of public servants.
Even Suswam’s personal aides numbering over 300 were not spared the disappointment of unpaid salaries.
Against this backdrop, TheNiche gathered that public disenchantment against the former governor was so intense to the extent that civil servants were said to have waited patiently for the hand-over day to embarrass him. Part of their agenda was to jeered and pelt him with water sachets, said Tersoo Avenda, a Makurdi-based businessman.
Suswam’s predecessors, who fell out of favour with the people at a time, had been accorded such odious treatment. A former military administrator of the state, Group Captain Joshua Obademi, also adjudged by the people to have carried out bad leadership in the state, was loudly booed in a manner that tasked the military strength in him during his public hand-over ceremony. Even Akume was booed when he handed over power to Suswam in 2007. The grouse with Akume was his failure to pay June and July teachers’ salaries, in addition to months of unpaid salaries of local government staff.
Aside his pre-election face-off with Akume, Gemade and Ortom, who he allegedly vowed would never succeed him, Suswam also had issues with other leaders in the state. He allegedly made efforts to erode the influence of the then Senate president, David Mark, in the state. But the attempts backfired.
Even with these incidental political battles, what seems to be the former governor’s greatest undoing was the issue of unpaid salaries. This failing, our reporter learnt, has dwarfed some measure of achievements his administration recorded in the state, especially the provision of infrastructure for which he bagged scores of awards from different organisations.
The former governor, somehow, knew that he impacted on Benue during his reign. A day before the hand-over, he had affirmed: “Our commitment to the construction of roads across the state was borne out of the realisation that as a predominantly agrarian community, our people need rural roads to link up with urban and commercial centres, for the purpose of conveying agricultural produce to places where they would get value for their effort.”
PDP chieftain and former Minister of State for Power, Professor Iyorwuese Hagher, agreed with him, adding in an interview that Suswam has remained Benue’s best governor in recent times.
According to him, “Suswam did a lot in infrastructure more than any other governor in recent times.”