EXCLUSIVE: Why Gov Alia Wants To Retire Akume From Politics, VP Shettima’s Role

Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Alia surprised the Catholic faithful when he bought the Benue governorship form of the All-Progressive Congress (APC) in May 2022 with zero experience in partisan politics. But with the backing of former governor, George Akume, a political war horse now the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Rev. Fr. Alia crossed all the hurdles and went on to win the governorship election.

But if Akume had any expectation of a payback from Governor Alia who used to call him “my leader” before he entered government house, it did not take long before the hope perished. Gov Alia has carried on as his own man and has shown he would not share his power with anyone, including those who facilitated his electoral victory.

While preparing to mark his one year in office, Alia visited one of his support bases at Tse Agberagba, Konshisha Local Government Area of the state on April 28, 2024 during a thanksgiving reception marking his one year in office.

It was a good time for him to render his stewardship to the people but he chose the occasion to show his aggressive side and put everyone on notice that he was ready for a fight. Standing while addressing the crowd in his Tiv dialect, he warned his critics: “Today, we are one year in office. In the past, some people pointed fingers at us, but we didn’t bite. Some have even been barking and spitting in our faces but we didn’t react.

Starting from this day as I stand here, if you are pointing a finger at this government, ask yourself; will my finger come back in one piece or it will not even come back at all?”

Even though Gov Alia and Akume have not exchanged words openly, the former’s speech at Tse Agberagba was a confirmation of the cold war that was already obvious from the first day Alia stepped into the governor’s office.

Operation Cripple Akume

It is not a war of words or military hardware. It is hostility shown through threats, political actions and propaganda by proxies. The aim is to cripple the political structure of Akume, the man who has become an overwhelming political force in Benue State since 2007 when he ended his second tenure as governor.

To do this, Governor Alia started by appointing people that are against Akume into the structure of the APC in the state and in his government. Nobody from the original APC is in the administration of Governor Alia.

Alia fired his first shot early enough when he rejected Akume’s nominee for speaker of the Benue State House of Assembly, Becky Orpine, who represents Gboko East, and supported Aondona Hyacinth Dajoh, representing Gboko West. After three rounds of voting in which the governor was present, Dajoh managed to defeat Opine by two votes, winning 17 against her 15 votes.

But the battle for the speakership was an indication that the governor was prepared to fight Akume. Lawmakers who supported Opine have since become victims of the Governor’s war with Akume. The APC also submitted a list of lawmakers for the remaining leadership positions in the assembly, but the speaker rejected.

“The speaker told us clearly that the governor had given him another list,” said Daniel Ihomun, Benue APC publicity secretary while responding to THE WHISTLER on the crisis in the state. Ihomun also revealed that the governor constituted his cabinet and appointed LG caretaker chairmen without consulting stakeholders of the party, including Akume.

THE WHISTLER spoke to several lawmakers who did not want to be quoted for fear of further victimisation on how Alia relates with them. They explained that Alia’s strategy is to starve the lawmakers of funds and do selective patronage by not releasing budgeted funds timely and completely, while lawmakers seen as Akume loyalists are denied their official entitlements.

For instance, out of 32 members of the assembly, only 26 of them deemed loyal to the governor got official vehicles, leaving out 6 deemed to be irredeemable supporters of the SGF. Again, for whatever reasons, the N30 million per annum usually paid to lawmakers as Constituency Services funds were paid to only 18 members till date. The remaining 14, allegedly tagged Akume supporters, are still waiting for their own.

When it was time to constitute his cabinet, Alia also rejected Akume’s nominees, and selected commissioners and special advisers after consultations with his faction of APC led by Benjamin Omakolo who operates close to the Government House in Makurdi, not from the party secretariat. The Akume faction of the party, which claims to be the mainstream APC, is led by Austin Agada and are in court for alleged illegal sacking.

Alia also ensured that key positions went to persons from his Vandeikya LGA of the state. For instance, the Accountant General of the state, Theresa Nyitse is from his local government. The Auditor General for LG, Abraham Chia and the Special Adviser in charge of the Bureau for LG Affairs, Denis Akure are from his local government area. So, is the Executive Secretary of the state Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), James Iorpuur.

None of Akume’s nominees made it into Alia’s cabinet and anyone of his appointees who showed the slightest allegiance to Akume was either sacked or relegated. The Deputy Governor of the state, Samuel Ode, is one of the victims of the cold war with Akume.

The governor has reduced his influence in the government due to suspicion that he could be more loyal to Akume than to him because of a family tie with the SGF. Ode’s mother, who is Tiv, is said to be related to Akume’s mother! Insiders told THE WHISTLER how difficult it is for the deputy governor to see his boss. “He once went to the governor’s residence and was kept waiting for the whole day,” revealed a senior official at the Government House.

Why Governor Alia Is Fighting Akume, VP’s Connection

Supporters of both gladiators explained to THE WHISTLER that Akume, who imposed Alia on the APC in the countdown to the 2023 governorship election, had thought he would be able to control him and continue to be the numeral uno party leader in the state.

They said this was the reason he wanted to install Opine, who is very close to him, as the speaker of the state assembly but the governor fought it. Alia, on the other hand, is described as a man who doesn’t understand how politics is played and is not prepared to make any political compromises.

His Royal Majesty, the Tor Tiv, Prof. James Ayatse, had tried in vain to resolve the conflict between two of his famous subjects. Sources in Benue claimed the governor had remained incalcitrant.

But THE WHISTLER gathered from sources with deeper understanding of the conflict, claim that the fire behind what is cooking in Benue is Vice President Kashim Shettima. They make the plausible claim that the underlying factor is the expected fight for Nigeria’s presidency in 2031 between the North Central and the North East.

If the Tinubu administration completes its two terms, the presidency is expected to return to the north where both zones could fight for it.

Vice President Shetima who has become cossy with Alia is believed to be eyeing the presidency and could fight for it to be zoned to North East, which would put him in pole position to grab it. But sources claim Shettima is aware of the influence of Akume in the APC federal government and in the North Central, and may fight for the presidency to come to the zone.

This is why, they claim, Shettima is interested in weakening Akume before 2031, and which other way is better than pit him against the governor of his state and cripple his political influence.

“They’re looking at the presidency coming to the north central in 2031,” a source close to Alia told THE WHISTLER in Makurdi. “The governor is working with Vice President Kashim Shetima in the hope that he would be the beneficiary of the ticket. They believe that Akume is positioning himself for that ticket.

“Alia and the VP are working closely together on the project. But the VP also has his own agenda since the north east too is yet to produce a president. He’s using Alia to fight the SGF and get him out of the way in 2031. The plot now is even to get him out of the SGF office.”

Thus, while giving Alia the impression that he would back him for the presidency in 2031 if it’s zoned to north central, the VP may also be using Alia to undermine one of the political juggernauts that may sabotage his own ambition for the presidency in 2031, knowing a case can be made for the presidency to go to the north east.

THE WHISTLER gathered that this project is the reason that Alia usually visits the VP anytime he’s in Abuja without visiting the SGF. The two have become very cordial while the relationship between Alia and Akume have gone cold. Many people told THE WHISTLER that both men have not been seen together publicly since after the election last year

The Technica Adviser to the governor on Media, Publicity and Strategic Communications, Solomon Iorpev, dismissed any plot against Akume, saying there was no conflict between the two men since none of them has said so publicly.

But when asked why the governor doesn’t visit the SGF whenever he comes to Abuja to see the VP, he said “maybe he had no need to see him or they had discussed on phone.”

Contract, Procurement Scandals

If anyone had expected that with a Reverend Father in the Benue Government House, there would be more transparency in the affairs of the state government, especially in the award of contracts, Gov Alia had since dashed such hopes.

The governor ignores the state procurement laws in the award of contracts by unilaterally selecting contractors and agreeing contract sums.

According to the Benue State Procurement Law 2020, the Procurement Council, which is headed by the governor, has some members of his cabinet and seven persons representing the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply Management of Nigeria, Nigeria Institute of Quantity Surveyors, Nigerian Bar Association, Nigeria Society of Engineers, Nigerian Institute of Architects, Civil Society and the Media as members.

But almost as soon as Governor Alia entered the Government House, he sent a bill to amend some provisions of the procurement law of the state. The bill changed the procurement law to give the governor full powers to award contracts.

The amendment bill, which was immediately passed by the state assembly and signed into law by the governor, states:

The Procurement Commission Law 2020 is amended as follows:

A. By the insertion of the following definition under section 2 of the principal law as follows:

“Executive Council” means the governor, deputy, commissioners of the Benue state government and any other person coopted for policy making in the state.

B. By the deletion of section 37(1) of the principal law and insertion of a new section 37(1) as follows “37(1) In addition to any other regulation as may be prescribe by the commission, except the executive council directs otherwise, a mobilisation fee of not more than 15 percent of contract sum may be paid to a supplier or contractor supported by the following:

1. In the case of state competitive bidding, an unconditional bank guarantee or insurance bond issued by an institution acceptable to the procuring entity and
2. In the case of international competitive bidding, an unconditional bank guarantee or insurance bond issued by a banking institution acceptable to a procuring entity.”

But the governor even violated his own amendment to the procurement law. In August 2023, when he was yet to constitute his cabinet and have an executive council in place, Governor Alia awarded N6 billion contract for the construction of 16 Makurdi township roads. His approval limit at the time was N50 million. When he formed his cabinet in September, he reviewed his approval limit to N250 million.

The governor did not appear to be bothered as he unilaterally reviewed the contract figure to N10 billion in flagrant violation of the procurement law. The contract for the construction of the 16 roads measuring 15. 39km was awarded to Triacta Nigeria Limited. Subsequent road projects have followed the same pattern.

He similarly awarded contracts for the construction of two road interchanges in the state– one in Makurdi and the other in Gboko. The two contracts are the biggest contracts his administration has awarded yet. But no one in the state government is aware of the costs of the two projects. There was no competitive bidding for the contracts which sources claim must be worth billions each.

The contracts were never discussed by the state executive council in line with the procurement laws of Benue State. The contractors, BAUHAUS Global Investment Nigeria Ltd are unknown in the construction industry, a reason critics say, the project has stalled.

Checks on the company show that the company was registered on 7 November, 2017 as a construction company located at Hajj Moh’d Compound on Funtua Crescent, Katsina, Katsina State. Three persons were listed as the owners/Directors of the company namely: Awwad Sadek, Abdulrahman Ibrahim Ahmed and Youssef Doumit Georges.

When THE WHISTLER visited the site of the High-Level Interchange in Makurdi late last month, the project awarded since November last year, was still at the pillar level. The situation was the same at the Gboko site.

Investigation by THE WHISTLER shows that the contractors were former employees of Triacta said to have been relieved of their jobs. The underpass project is their first major project. The tractors seen at the sites of their projects were also Triacta tractors.

Gov Alia also awarded the contract for the renovation and furnishing of the expansive Benue State Secretariat before he constituted a cabinet. No one knows the value of the contract which was awarded to Shek-Bright Nigeria Ltd. But insiders said the contract is worth billions.

Governor Alia Ignored Request For Interview

Imojime Isaac Tiza, Benue State commissioner for works, housing and urban development was not on seat when THE WHISTLER visited his office. But Mnena Philip-Vande, the information officer of the ministry, told THE WHISTLER she didn’t have the information about project costs. She requested a letter to the commissioner which was immediately done and submitted to the commissioner’s office.

Weeks later, the ministry responded in a letter dated 23rd September signed by Uchia Anas, Permanent Secretary of the ministry, stating that it could not grant THE WHISTLER’s “request for sensitive information on government activities.” The ministry advised that the request should be redirected to the ministry of information.

But before the ministry of works responded to THE WHISTLER’s request for information on Governor Alia’s projects, our correspondent had called his senior media aide, Solomon Iorpev, who immediately scheduled an appointment.

He said all contracts awarded by Gov Alia were bid for, but added that some were closed bids without mentioning any particular project. He said no one had the right to question the governor on why he chose open or closed bids since it would depend on the importance and urgency of the projects.

“I won’t be able to tell you or show you any evidence (of bids) because I’m not responsible for that,” Iorpev stated. “But if you go to the ministry of works, they have all the documents and they will tell you. But what I know is that budgets have been prepared for these jobs. For instance, if you want to do about 45 township roads, and some of them are just one kilometre or half kilometre, what the budget requires you to do is to mention the major ones and write “and others.”

But a member of the state assembly who spoke in confidence to THE WHISTLER said the governor had shown a lack of transparency in the award of contracts, adding that he committed many impeachable offences but the assembly cannot impeach him because no one is backing the lawmakers against the governor.

“The governor will just send the budget without including cost of several of the projects, but he will ask us to pass it,” he alleged. Adding that the “SGF George Akume who can fight the governor is not fighting him; he’s just telling his supporters that the governor does not know what he’s doing.”

Several government officials who spoke in confidence to THE WHISTLER also confirmed that Governor Alia is the one who awards all contracts and signs cheques. Since he froze state government accounts, he is the only one who signs cheque for withdrawal of all funds from the state government’s accounts.

The governor promised to re-open government accounts after six months, but more than a year after, they are yet to be unfrozen and only the governor can withdraw from the accounts, making him essentially a sole administrator.

Efforts to get an interview with the governor did not succeed when THE WHISTLER visited his office as he was said to be in Abuja.

A formal letter requesting an interview on the allegations against him, which was sent to the governor’s office and that of his Chief Press Secretary, Tersoo Kula, was not acknowledged. The letter was sent from Abuja by DHL on 25th September, but till the time of going to press, it was not acknowledged even though telephone contacts were included.

The governor’s CPS also did not pick his calls for several days and did not return the calls. Messages to his GSM line were also nor replied, confirming what journalists covering Benue State had told THE WHISTLER.