My 2023 vote for Alia was a mistake
By Collins Uzer
If you visit most Benue communities now and shout “yes father”, you may be stoned by the people out of anger. ‘Yes father’ was the slogan Governor Hyacinth Alia introduced as gubernatorial candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) with which he was marketed to Benue voters.
I voted for Alia on the 18th of March 2023 to win the Benue State governorship election. In my polling unit at NKST Idye, Wailomayo Council Ward of Makurdi, Alia got 228 votes ahead of Titus Uba of PDP who had 27 votes and Labour Party candidate with 6 votes.
We were told that this man is a priest who is meek and humane so he would lead with the fear of God. Little did we know that we were enthroning a vicious monster who lacks human empathy and only cares about himself.
Today, I regret joining others to work for the election of a man who has no human feelings and is a sadist; a man who is not bothered that Benue people are being killed by Fulani herdsmen in many local governments of the state; a man who is hiding the truth about the killings and is busy defending Fulani herders while blaming his people of killing themselves.
My maternal home is in Kwande so I know the level of atrocities Fulani have committed against my mother’s people. Each time I listen to Governor Alia denying that attacks are happening in Benue State, I feel a sense of deep sadness, disappointment and despair. Almost every day, dead bodies are found after attacks. No one goes to the farm on the Turan side of Kwande. The same thing is happening in other parts of the state such as Sankera, Guma, the two Gwers, Makurdi, Agatu, Otukpo and other areas occupied by herders.
The people of Benue State blindly voted for Alia during the 2023 election without knowing what they were going into. Today, less than two years into the Alia governorship, there are regrets and cries all over the state. The real colour of Alia has come out!
The governor has been found out! The lies he told the people during the campaigns have expired. Remember that the issue of security was a major campaign topic in 2023. Alia promised to return the internally displaced people back to their homelands within his first 100 days in office. Today, he is busy building more IDP camps to move the people into the camps to create more space for Fulani to graze their cows.
Governor Alia is not only a wicked man but also has no good plan for the people. Despite receiving plenty of money from the Federal Government every month in addition to donations from international organizations, the governor can only boast of paying salaries and pensions as if other states are not paying salaries during the Asiwaju Tinubu government’s subsidy removal era. All other state governors have since cleared the arrears of salaries and pensions they inherited and have been paying current salaries and pensions steadily.
Alia is more interested in fighting political battles for the control of party structures and fighting the judiciary. Almost two years in office, he is yet to complete any major project when his contemporaries in other states have completed and commissioned many projects. Governor Alia has sealed all government bank accounts since the 29th of May, 2023. The state civil service has collapsed. Nothing goes on in government ministries anymore. Civil servants only wait for their salaries. They are not allowed to initiate and execute any programme. Alia awards contracts personally to companies of his Fulani sponsors, particularly former Kaduna governor el Rufai.
I have been reading reports that Alia is amassing unbelievable wealth for himself and has purchased many properties in different cities in Nigeria and other parts of the world. A governor who buys a private jet for himself worth more than N11 billion at a time his state is grappling with security and economic challenges is a selfish and corrupt man!
I regret wasting my ballot on Governor Alia, because now I know he didn’t deserve my vote!
