… As Gov awards more development contracts in Gboko

By Titus Atondu, Makurdi

The Honourable Speaker of the 10th Benue State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Hyacinth Aondona Dajoh, has enjoined the people of his constituency and Jemgbagh at large to remain supportive to the administration of Rev. Fr. Dr. Hyacinth Iormem Alia, the Executive Governor of the state poised on executing people oriented policies and programs with direct bearing on their lives since assumption of office.

Hon. Dajoh also disclosed that due to the Governor’s tremendous development strides recorded within one year in office, unquantifiable card carrying members of the main opposition party the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and other political parties were dumping their respective parties to join the Benue state chapter of the All Progressives Party (APC) under the goal – getting and pragmatic leadership of the governor.

The Speaker who is also the Vice Chairman North Central, Conference of Speakers of State Legislatures of Nigeria made the disclosure on Thursday while addressing the mammoth crowed of Tarka and Gboko local government areas when he accompanied the Governor on his thank you tour across the state.

He explained that the state has been blessed with a true leader who has the plight of his people at heart especially the downtrodden, hate deciept and is always matching his words with action.

“I am calling on all of us to support the Governor who is making us proud in all sectors of the state economy without borrowing a dime from any financial institution since assumption of office, as manifested in regular and prompt payment of workers salaries, pensions and gratuities with other development projects in the state.

“Anyone who is on the countrary with the governor’s leadership is an enemy to me the Speaker and the entire state.” Dajoh warned.

Earlier, the Governor, Rev. Fr. Dr. Hyacinth Alia, announced the award of contract for the construction of Joseph Sarwuan Tarka Ultra modern stadium to meet international standard, contract for total reconstruction of Tiv traditional council hall and a contract for the construction of Ateku – Ikpenger road.

Alia explained that the purpose of his visit in Gboko was to appreciate the overwhelming support they gave him during the 2023 governorship election which recorded the uncommon results first in the history of the state since the return of democracy and assured that his government would be people oriented.

Senator Barnabas Gemade, in a good will message described the governor as a peace making leader with the fear of God sent to come and salvage the state from the shackles of under development with the restoration of its lost glory over the years.

” The youths in Jemgbagh have suffered neglect by previous administration over the years, now God has sent his true servant with the passion to change the narrative of the youths.” Gemade maintained.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has pointed fingers at Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, as the mastermind behind the political tensions rocking the state.

The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, made this claim in a statement released in Abuja on Thursday.

Morka dismissed allegations by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that the APC was plotting to seize control of Rivers State, labelling it a product of the PDP’s “warped imagination.”

The statement was in response to a call by the Rivers APC Caretaker Committee Chairman, Tony Okocha, for a state of emergency to be declared in the state due to escalating violence.

The PDP had countered that Okocha’s statement revealed the APC’s intention to instigate a crisis in the state.

However, Morka shifted the blame onto Governor Fubara, accusing him of orchestrating the political unrest in Rivers State. The APC and PDP have been engaged in a war of words, each denying the other’s allegations and reaffirming their respective parties’ stronghold on the state.

The ruling party claimed that since he assumed office over a year ago, the governor has displayed reckless disdain for the rule of law and democratic institutions, adding that he conducted his government in flagrant violation of the Constitution.

The APC publicist recalled how Fubara constituted a three-man Assembly after declaring Rivers state House of Assembly to be non-existent in what it called an unprecedented display of autocratic arrogance,

According to the statement, “This ridiculous and baseless claim was the subject of the party’s garbled press statement on Wednesday. The PDP offered no justification for its bogus claim except to mischievously misrepresent and amplify the comments reportedly made by Chief Tony Okocha while sweeping under the carpet the salient issues underpinning the festering crisis in Rivers State.

“Quite contrary to the PDP’s misplaced quibbles against Okocha comments, Governor Siminalayi Fubara is the supreme architect of the horrific crisis rocking Rivers state. The governor has continued to expend public funds without lawful appropriations by a duly constituted legislature thereby undermining the will of the good people of Rivers State and their right to effective and accountable democratic governance.

“Governor Fubara is an executive governor of crisis. A serious and focused governor would have set a clear programme to conduct local government elections given the established timeline for the expiration of the tenure of the incumbent elected local government officials. Rather, he sat idly for their tenure to elapse to unleash a fresh round of thuggery on the people, seeking to arbitrarily impose illegal, unconstitutional and anti-democratic caretaker committees to run the affairs of local governments in place of democratically elected local government officials.”

BY RAYMOND OZOJI, Awka

As political permutations gather momentum preparatory to the 2025 governorship election in Anambra State, the ruling All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) says it is not leaving any stone unturned as the party takes governance back to the grassroots.

Speaking exclusively with this journalist Raymond Ozoji at the APGA Regional Headquarters in Awka, the state chairman of the party, High Chief Barr. Ifeatu Obi-Okoye, said the mission of the party is to ensure that every political ward constituted its kindred structures by December this year as there are over 12,000 kindreds in the state.

Obi-Okoye said that the constitution of the Kindreds ( Umunna structures ) would be an added advantage to the All Progressives Grand Alliance as it goes into the election next year.

Obi-Okoye who spoke about the one year anniversary of the new state leadership of the party, said they have been able to maintain stability in the party devoid of any crisis in the last one year.

He said they needed to take the party beyond ward level; recalling that fundamentally when APGA was registered and formed in 2002, it was formed as the party that derives its strength from the ordinary man at the grassroots.

He said his administration has taken APGA back to its fundamental structure which is the kindred structure building it around the traditional leadership in the villages, adding that the good governance of the Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo’s administration has helped the party to really penetrate the grassroots.

The APGA state chairman emphasized that the purpose of setting up the Solution Kindred Structures was to ensure that all government benefits, palliatives, economic empowerments and other largesse got to the common man at the grassroots without being denied or shortchanged in the value chain.

He disclosed that the government of Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo is setting up what he mentioned as Onye Aghana Nwanneya Cooperative. The cooperative, according to him, is not for the rich and influential people but for the poor whereby they group themselves into economic groups to enable them get grants and loans from government to establish their own businesses.

According to him, every polling unit in the community is built around the kindred structure such that when a polling unit is lost, it means the individual has lost his kindred in such election.

He said that the Solution Kindred Initiative would be sustained because he believes the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) is a mass movement rooted in the grassroots.