To this day, the Late Governor Aper Aku, who was in office between October 1979 and December 1983 is regarded as the best governor of Benue State. He left sterling records worthy of an innovator.
But it was not all rosy for Late Aku, though a student of the great Joseph Tarka, for he faced severe problems in Benue, as a state with a long history of neglect.
However, the state has fertile land with great agricultural potential. Aku encouraged mass agricultural production, and during his tenure the state produced bumper harvests of local crops such as yams, cassava, soya beans, cowpea, maize, guinea corn, millet, groundnut, banana, mangoes and oranges. He turned the state into "Food basket of the nation."
The Government established a number of industries to produce fertilizer and process agricultural products, located close to the areas where the produce was grown. Gov. Aku launched commercial enterprises such as the Benue Brewery, Benro Packaging, Benue Bottling Company, Lobi Bank, Ber-Agbum Fish Farm, Ikogen Cattle Ranch, Taraku Vegetable Processing Industry and Benue International Hotel in Makurdi. He initiated the Makurdi International Market and planned to establish a flour mill in Makurdi. Aku also built a state of the art State Secretariat
He constructed seven cottage hospitals in different locations of the state, established two Teachers Training Colleges at Oju and Makurdi and the University of Technology in Makurdi. He embarked on an ambitious program to expand the number of Secondary Schools. He built roads in Makurdi township and provided street lights, awarded the contract for the Art Council Complex and started work on the Makurdi stadium.
Professor David Iornem once referred to him as "a visionary leader ahead of his time."
The Coup d'etat of December 31, 1983 that ousted Aper Aku and his second republic colleagues in other states, marked the end of golden era in Benue political leadership.
Brig. Gen. John Atom Kpera who succeeded Gov. Aku watched all the lofty projects launched by Aku die irredeemably.
Kpera was appointed Military Governor of Benue on 4th January 1984, the first military leader born in the state to govern the State. His only "achievement" was initiation of the policy of forcing the people to clean their environment under the supervision of soldiers. On his dismissal as governor, he said of the State's treasury that he left it empty because he met it — empty.
Ever since, Benue has become the proverbial child born into affluence, but dies in abject penury. Not even Rev. Fr. Adasu in the defunct third republic could make a notable difference. From George Akume, to Gabriel Suswam, to Samuel Ortom, the story has remained the same.
On May last year, Catholic Bishop of Gboko diocese — His Lordship, William Avenya, in compliance with relevant canonical provisions (sanctioned) dispensed Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Iormem Alia of his priestly ministries, for joining partisan politics, in the race for governorship, which breaches section 285.3 of the revised Code of Canon Law: "clerics are forbidden to assume public offices which entail a participation in the exercise of civil power."
Fr. Alia (now Governor Alia), is a contemporary deja vu of Late Rev. Fr. Moses Adasu who resisted all wise counsels not to soil his clerical cloak, joined partisan politics, and was elected Governor of Benue state on January 2, 1992.
Today, a month and half on the saddle, the light is not green for Gov. (Fr.) Hyacinth Alia. The illusionary sentiments and hope expressed by his people when he replaced his Chasuble with Agbada, is fading away with maddening speed. He has already made two far-reaching decisions which political pundits considered unbecoming of a "man of God."
His recent decision to sack over 13,000 workers and 23 Local Government Council chairmen in the state has raised eyebrows and caused significant concern among the public. Such drastic measures, taken to rectify alleged irregularities in the recruitment process, warrant careful scrutiny.
We must agree however that his swift action sends a ringing message that tough measures are needed to combat corruption and restore integrity in public service. But, while it is important to uphold transparency and accountability, such a mass sacking without proper investigation and consultation has raised questions about fairness and the governor's understanding of due process.
Such decisions come with a lot of unintended consequences.
The overwhelming dismissal of local government council chairmen also raises concerns about the governor's respect for democratic principles. While it is crucial to address corruption and ensure transparency, stripping elected officials of their mandates without concrete evidence of wrongdoing undermines the democratic fabric of governance. It also sets a dangerous precedent.
Critics argue that Governor Alia seems to lack sufficient consideration of alternative courses of action to address the alleged irregularities in the recruitment process. Instead of immediately resorting to mass dismissals, other options such as thorough investigations, audits, or creating systems to verify the legitimacy of appointments could have been explored. Such alternatives would have allowed an opportunity to weed out any corruption while minimizing the negative consequences for innocent workers.
A balanced approach that investigates and rectifies alleged irregularities while safeguarding the livelihoods of innocent workers should have been adopted.
One thing is clear, the "theocratic" approach to leadership which Fr. Alia enjoyed as a priest for over two decades is taking toll on him. Democracy is definitely a strange ally to him. In the Catholic Church which had been his constituency, the laity doesn't wield civil liberty to hold the hierarchy to account, as they do in secular democracy.
More so, how did he fair in his apostolate before he joined politics? If Fr. Hyacinth couldn't make the parishes he administered, in his days, as Parish Priest better than others in the diocese, when he had the unbounded hierarchical power, how did anyone expect him to be a better political leader, in a democracy where bureaucracy holds sway.
Perhaps, he is seeing the entire state as his Parish, and thus sacked the workers the same way he would the parish Catechist. His leadership philosophy and his apostolate as a priest is definitely clashing with his current statutory position as governor — the political leader of a state.
"All recent appointments into the State Civil Service made by the outgone administration from May 2022 to date are hereby nullified with immediate effect" decreed Gov. Alia militarily.
“All Civil Servants and or persons appointed Permanent Secretaries from the month of January 2023 to date should revert to their previous positions forthwith,” Fr. Alia’s chief press secretary, Tersoo Kula conveyed.
His suspension (sacking) of democratically elected 23 Local Council Chairmen of the state, after a kangaroo recommendation from the state House of Assembly is raising Cain from death. He did this against a subsisting National Industrial Court ruling.
The court judgement, which was delivered on June 15, 2023, followed a case instituted by the then-serving council chairmen. They got judgement in their favour to the effect that their tenure should run full course as provided under the law without let or hindrance from any quarters.
Fr. Hyacinth breached the ruling and handed them over to EFCC. These are men who have the electoral mandate of their people with constitutional executive powers to administer their Local Government Areas.
In the build-up to the 2023 elections, I took a short trip through the recessed walkway of my mind into Nigeria's political history. Though the destination of this ruminating voyage was the early 20th century province of Zungeru, where the amalgamation of what today became Nigeria took place, something dreadful struck my mind, as I pondered on the class of 1979 governors in the defunct old 19 states. Of these 19 governors of the second republic only two — Senator Jim Nwobodo of old Anambra State and His Highness Auwal Ibrahim of old Niger State are still alive. The rest alongside their President and Vice are all dead. This was just 44 years ago when they were the 21 most powerful people in Nigeria vested with unfettered executive powers. Today, they are gone and unreferenced.
Even the two that are still alive no longer make news. It should serve a huge lesson to the current crop of politicians that political dynasty is not an eternal enterprise but their scorecards will be their only legacy either in negativity or positivity.
May Benue succeed and my daylight spare us!