By Amos Uchiv
According to holy scriptures in the gospel of Luke 16:10-14 “Whoever can be trusted with small things can also be trusted with big things. Whoever is dishonest in little things will be dishonest in big things too.”
Governor Hyacinth Alia of Benue State comes to mind whenever I reflect on the above scripture. Alia has failed to prove those who predicted that he would not be a good governor wrong. He is doing exactly what his critics said he would do if elected governor.
It is really disturbing that a state governor has chosen to lead by lies, more lies and vendetta. By spreading false information and shifting blame onto others, governor Alia has demonstrated a lack of integrity and leadership in dealing with critical issues that affect the lives and well-being of the people he was elected to protect.
Since he assumed office, governor Alia has not kept any promise. He lied that within his first 100 days in office, he would return all IDPs to their ancestral homes, but that is yet to be seen after a year and 5 months into his governorship.
He awarded contracts for the construction of 16 roads of merely 15km for a huge sum of N6 billion and shortly thereafter without approval of the State Executive Council, he approved the increase of the contract amount to a whopping N9 billion! That money was not covered in the Benue State budget.
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Alia fought stoutly against the grant of financial autonomy to local governments after he had lied during campaigns that he would grant the autonomy. He and the other governors shamefully lost the case at the Supreme Court and are currently trying to fashion out ways so they can be retrieving the funds even when sent directly to the accounts of local governments.
The same governor who is grandstanding over the management of state resources seconded the motion for a suit against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC but turned round to deny approving that the state be joined in the case to scrap the anti-graft commission. He used the state Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice Fidelis Mnyim as a scapegoat by suspending him. Only a man who lacks integrity can do such a thing!
Alia receives huge financial support from the Federal Government but lies to Benue people that he is the one doing all the things they see even when it is obvious that the projects are not funded by the state. An example was the proposed flyover at Wurukum which Alia already began to tell the public that his government was going to do, until the Minister of Works Dave Umahi came for the flag-off of the Makurdi-Enugu expressway and disclosed that the Wurukum flyover is a federal project. Feeling exposed, Alia hurriedly went and dismantled the High Level roundabout and began to construct a never-ending white elephant project known as underpass.
Alia received N5 billion and many trucks of rice from the Federal Government as palliatives but kept mute. There were reports in the media that he used the money to influence the court judgments that were delivered in his favour on the case challenging his emergence as governor.
Alia promised to clear salaries, pensions and gratuities within his first 100 days in office, but he is approaching two years in office after receiving voluminous monthly allocations without doing anything while other governors have since cleared the backlog of salaries, pensions and gratuities in their respective states.
Earlier this year, governor Alia announced a ban on public gatherings. But the ban was apparently targeted at his political opponents and those within his party who are on the side of Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume. The ban on public gatherings was still in force when governor Alia embarked on state-wide political rallies under the guise of thank-you-tour. He used the rallies to run down his opponents with stinking lies and threats to cut the fingers of his critics.
Alia has increased the monthly security vote for the governor to an alarming all time high of N1.5 billion but has not purchased a single patrol vehicle for any of the security agencies operating in the state. He does not even hold the state security council meetings. Even when he reluctantly does, he asks his deputy Samuel Ode to preside over the meetings.
Not too long ago, we read in the papers that Governor Alia was one of those who endorsed what is called Pulaku and made sure that Benue State was included in the list of states where the Federal Government plans to establish cattle colonies, and we were wondering if the man is out of his mind. Which part of the state does he hope to cede for the construction of the Fulani settlements known as Pulaku?
The Fulanis were very happy to hear that the governor of Benue State is ready to give them lands to own and occupy. If this is part of the agreement he was said to have with the Fulani before they supported his election, someone should make governor Alia understand that his plan is against the interest of the Benue people.
READ: Benue: Gov Alia suspends Attorney General over suit challenging EFCC, ICP
We must remind governor Alia that Benue people voted for him to protect them, not to be flying in private jets across the world and spending their money on wasteful personal luxuries like buying expensive cars, buying houses in choice locations in Makurdi, Abuja, Lagos, the United States etc. He promised us that he would provide good governance, but what we have so far seen is a misfit in power.
* Comrade Uchiv is the President, Defenders of Democracy (DoD).
