Alia, Akume rift deepens as Benue lawmaker removes Governor’s portrait from his office
By Ishaya Ibrahim
The House of Representatives member representing Ado/Okpokwu/Ogbadibo Federal Constituency of Benue State, Philip Agbese, has removed the official portrait of the Governor, Hyacinth Alia, from his office, saying that the Catholic Priest who turned politician was not fit to be governor.
In a video shared on X, the lawmaker was seen walking into his secretary’s office which has portraits of federal leaders, including President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume, Benue Governor Alia, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, and Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu.
The lawmaker then pointed at Akume’s portrait and said: “This is the man we want to see. This is our leader. He remains the leader of the party, he remains the father of the state. There is no doubt about it because he is a man of fairness, he is a man of equity and a man of justice and that is why we love him. He has earned his respect.”
Agbese then turned to the portrait of Governor Alia and said: “Today, I officially remove the portrait of this person from my office because he is not fit to be a leader. We can’t follow him if he doesn’t have respect for democracy, doesn’t have respect for the constitution.”
The lawmaker then yanked off Governor Alia’s portrait off the wall of his office and handed it over to his secretary to relocate it.
The backstory
Akume brought Alia, a priest with no previous political pedigree to political reckoning during the last governorship election in Benue State. In the election, Alia went ahead to defeat the candidate of the ruling party. He then started constituting his cabinet without the input of his godfather.
Alia, it was also gathered, rejected the nominee of Akume, Becky Orpin, for the position of the Speaker of the State House of Assembly by supporting another, Dajoh Aondona, who then emerged as Speaker.
The House of Assembly controlled by pro-Alia lawmakers later dissolved the local government executive councils in Benue State and gave the governor the mandate to appoint a caretaker committee. For Akume, it was an affront taken too far.
The Senate passed a resolution urging the federal government to withhold statutory allocation to Local Government councils whose chief executives and councilors were not democratically elected. The motion that gave birth to the resolution was moved by Abba Moro, a senator from Benue State. Akume was suspected to be the mastermind behind the resolution.
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Why always Akume?
Akume has been a factor in Benue politics since 1999 when he became governor on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and ruled till 2007.
In 2007, he helped Gabriel Suswam to succeed him but not along after, they fell apart and Akume moved to the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) which later became All Progressives Congress (APC).
In the 2015 election, Akume brought Samuel Ortom and aided him to defeat the candidate put forward by Suswam. After Ortom emerged Governor, the relationship didn’t last long before both men went their separate ways.
In the 2023 election, and to the shock of many observers, Akume brought Alia a priest and ensured his victory at the poll against the man put forward by Ortom.
It is only six months into Alia’s administration, things have fallen apart between him and Akume and the centre cannot hold.
Benue Rep member, Hon. Philip Agbese has removes Gov Alia's portrait from his office, saying he is not fit to be called a father or leader.
— Simple Media (@_Simplemedia) December 5, 2023
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