A kinsman of Governor Hyacinth Alia of Benue State, Hon. Patrick Chia has dumped the governor and the All Progressives Congress (APC), citing poor leadership style and abandonment of campaign promises as reasons for his decision.
In a statement he issued in Makurdi, the Benue State capital earlier today (Thursday October 10, 2024), Hon. Chia who is from the same Mbadede community as Governor Alia, said when he made up his mind before the 2023 elections to join the APC, what motivated him was the fact that Alia who was seeking to govern the state is a priest who many people believed would lead with the fear of God.
He said contrary to the expectations, what Benue people have witnessed in the last one and a half years has fallen far below the hopes and expectations of the people. Chia cited the recently concluded local government elections in Benue State and the flagrant disregard for the rule of law as some of the instances which have proven that Governor Alia is not ready to lead well.
The statement reads:
“Recall, couple of months ago, I along with some political associates decamped to the All Progressive Congress APC, in Benue State, after my party, the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, lost out in the last Gubernatorial election.
“For me, the sole reason for shifting ground was, to join ranks with the Executive Governor of the State, His Excellency, Revd. Fr. Dr. Hyacinth Alia, to lend my support to his administration in which ever way possible to enable it succeed with my requisite experience in the media field, haven served in the the immediate past administration, as Special Assistant to the Governor on Media, and as a younger brother to the Executive Governor from same council ward of Mbadede in Vandeikya LGA, I felt the incumbency on me to close ranks with him even though we were on different political divides for the sake of posterity.
“My belief it was, that the Governor who was overwhelmingly voted into office by the electorates under the Mantra of “DIVINITY” will without an iota of doubt fastrack the much desired dividends of good governance to the Benue people, and put the state on the part of development and prosperity.
“To my dismay unfortunately, events and actions by the governor, his administration and associates have proven to be outrightly contrary to my earlier belief, and has therefore reshapes my opinion entirely in the negative.
“Let’s take the just concluded Local government council poll as an example, where abuse of electoral processes, flagrant disobedience of court orders and distortions of zoning procedures etc, were Hallmark of the day.
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“For the Governor, a (priest) who is is assumed to be a representative of God Almighty on earth, to have conducted and superintent over such a shambolic electoral process and going to the Media to defend and claiming the process to be transparent, free and fair, even with the emergence of the infamous video of ballots papers thumb printing funnily tagged “UNA WELL DONE OO” by Arise TV which has gone viral, on social media platforms and has sent the entire nation to bewilderment, then evidently the acclaimed integrity of the governor is nothing but a fabrication.
“In view of this and many more which I may not be able to highlight here for want of time, I have in good conscience decided to disembarked on my journey with the APC in Benue State, and I reunite with my former party the Peoples Democratic Party PDP, as the journey with APC evidently will leads to nowhere.
“On this note, I wish to congratulate the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, for a successful conduct of both wards, LGs and State congresses that have produced a new party executives that will steer the affairs of the party in the next four (4) years under the leadership of Rt. Hon Ezekiel A. Adaji, let me also commend the leadership role of the immediate past Governor, His Excellency, Samuel Ortom who’s the leader of the PDP in the state for facilitating the smooth process, and his Amiable wife, Her Excellency Dr. (Mrs) Eunice Ortom, Founder, Eunice Spring of Life Foundation, ESLF, for her support always.
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“As I humbly pledge my unalloyed loyalty to the Party, it’s my belief that this reunion will be more solid as we seeks to unite the party for the immediate task ahead, which is to send Hon.Utaan Terhide Conrad to Wadata house as the next National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP”, Citizen Patrick Chia concluded.
