By Thomas Usende
From my house here in New GRA side of Makurdi, I monitored on television the visit of the presidential candidate of All Progressives Congress, APC Bola Tinubu who was in Benue State today to canvass for votes. I observed that the event was a total flop as the people of Benue demonstrated their rejection of the APC led in the state by Minister of Special Duties and Intergovernmental Affairs, George Akume.
Yesterday being the eve of the APC rally in Makurdi, the social media space was awash with conflicting reports that the rally was called off while a few supporters of the APC insisted that the event would hold. Top of the controversy was the story that Tinubu had given Akume N200 million to organize the rally but Akume diverted the funds and the Jagaban was threatening to cancel the visit until the minister accounted for the money.
Another strong factor was the recent Appeal Court judgment which removed the governorship candidate of APC Hyacinth Alia as a result of the yahoo yahoo primary election of the party. After the judgment, Alia ran to nearly every radio station in the state trying to explain that he is still the APC candidate, but Benue people were not convinced.
When the day of the rally came, the streets were empty. Majority of those who were seen at Aper Aku stadium were APC members from neighboring Nasarawa state who were hired to come and cover the anticipated shame. They had arrived Makurdi earlier in the day and were moved to the stadium before would arrive. Even the popular okada riders in Makurdi refused to welcome the APC delegation.
Bola Tinubu was apparently disappointed by what he saw after spending so much on the rally. Throughout the event, Akume was looking like a fowl just beaten by rain. He wore no smiles. He must have been feeling the weight of guilt and humiliation for failing to mobilize people to attend the presidential rally of the political party he is the leader in Benue state. Greed!
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The other fellow who looked dejected was the governorship candidate now turned aspirant, Alia. He cut the figure of a hopeless man who has shown a lot of pride but is now on the brink of losing it all. He is likely not to be on the 2023 ballot entirely. He accepted the result of an election that did not take place and is now facing the consequences of that ignoble act. Prof Terhemba Shija, Chief Mike Aondoakaa, Chief Barnabas and PDP are all in court to quash the sham primary that brought the former priest.
To make matters worse for Alia, he was not presented with the party’s flag as its governorship candidate in the state.
The poor outing of the APC in Makurdi today is a strong signal that the party stands rejected in Benue state.
