The Presidential campaign train of the opposition Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, last week Thursday headed for Gboko, Benue State, where it held a rally and formally presented a flag to its governorship candidate in the state to challenge Governor Suswam. The occasion attracted a large turnout of broom wielding supporters who swept through the ancient town with the ACN ‘change’ slogan.
THESE are certainly not the best of times for Gabriel Suswam, Governor of Benue State; he is experiencing a ‘winter’ time. Ironically Benue, a state in the North-central part of Nigeria, where the former member of the House of Representatives holds sway as chief executive, remains one of the hottest states in the country.
That Suswam is experiencing a winter period, even in a hot geographic zone, is not necessarily due to climatic misnomer. Over the state which prides itself as “food basket of the nation”, the sun still does its normal routine of rising from the East and setting in the West. Suswam is, therefore experiencing what analysts describe as “his political winter.” This is because a political wind (of change?) form the opposition camp which is currently blowing across the state appears to be leaving no oxygen in the atmosphere for him to breathe.
Interestingly, the very person leading the opposition against Suswam, who is seeking re-election on the platform of the PDP, is his perceived political godfather and immediate past predecessor, George Akume. A former founding member of the ruling PDP on whose crest he became Senator representing Benue zone B, Akume, who is believed to have facilitated Suswam’s emergence as governor in 2007 has now defected to the rival Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, on whose platform he is seeking re-election into the Senate.
With their political honeymoon over, the former political bedfellows are currently entangled in a titanic battle of supremacy as to who dictates the pace and determines the political direction of Benue State.
Although the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Benue seemed to have given Suswam a clean bill of health by adopting him as sole candidate to fly its ticket again in the April poll, watchers of political trends in Benue State, particularly his critics, say Suswam will face an uphill task.
As the countdown to the April elections draws nearer with the intensification of electioneering campaigns by political parties, unfolding events in Benue politics show Suswam’s re-election ambition may not be a one way traffic as his political opponents in other parties have vowed to stop him and effect a change in the governance of the state.
Interestingly, his major challenger, who appears to be giving him sleepless nights, is his fellow kinsman from Logo local government area of Benue State, Professor Stephen Ugba. A relatively new entrant into the Benue political turf, Ugba who believes he is on a “rescue mission” in Benue State is challenging Suswam on the platform of the ACN. With Alhaji Abubakar Usman (popularly known as “Young Alhaji”) as running mate, Ugba is equally enjoying the backing of Senator Akume, former Senate President, Dr. Iyorchia Ayu and other key stakeholders of Benue State.
What appears to be a demonstrable test of Ugba’s popularity was manifested during last week’s formal launch of the ACN Presidential campaign rally in Benue and the presentation of flag to the governorship candidate for the state. The occasion which took place in Gboko Township last Thursday witnessed the turnout of an unprecedented crowd that is said not to have been experienced in the annals of Benue political history.
The occasion was like a carnival of brooms. From Makurdi, the Benue State capital, to Gboko; a distance of about forty five kilometres, broom wielding ACN supporters filed out along the road in their numbers chanting solidarity songs. They included the young and the old, men and women. In practical demonstration of their desire for change, the broom wielding ACN supporters, particularly the youth, engaged in a dancing frenzy of sweeping the pedestrian lane of the road, the scorching Sun notwithstanding. Vehicles and motorcycles travelling along the road from Makurdi to Gboko to witness the ACN rally were also adorned with brooms of various sizes and colours.
As if a public holiday was declared for the purpose of sweeping the town clean with brooms, business and commercial activities in Gboko Township practically came to a standstill that day. Along major streets, four out of every five people encountered brandished their brooms. At the Police Parade Ground Gboko where the rally took place, it was difficult to tell whether or not the population of brooms outnumbered that of those wielding them.
The central message at the rally was simply that of change. A pamphlet circulated at the venue by a group known as “All Progressive Alliance Movement for Effective Change” probably captured the essence of the envisaged change. While challenging the Benue electorate to aggressively troop out to the polling centres and cast their votes for the ACN candidate as Governor of Benue on election day, the pamphlet further read: “By God’s grace, the change we desire today is that which will firmly route Benue on the sound path of revolutionary development, through the sterling qualitative leadership of Professor Steve Ugba…”
Three former founding members of the PDP in Benue: Dr. Iyorchia Ayu, George Akume and Senator John Kennedy Waku, who spoke at the rally vowed to work against the Suswam led administration and to ensure the emergence of the ACN in the State.
Speaking at the occasion, Dr. Ayu, former Senate President, expressed regret that “the PDP government which we were founding members has fallen short of the expectations of Nigerians both at the federal level and in Benue State.”
Ayu who urged the people of Benue to massively cast their votes for the ACN Presidential candidate, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, also enjoined them to vote out the PDP government in Benue led by Suswam and replace him with Professor Stephen Ugba.
In the same vein, immediate past Governor of Benue State and now Senator representing Benue zone A, George Akume, said the PDP government led by Suswam was on its way out. Akume is seeking re-election into the Senate on the platform of the ACN. He urged the people not to sell their voters’ cards to the PDP government but cast their votes wisely in order to vote out the PDP government.
Former Senator, JKN Waku, on his part said the mammoth crowd that turned out at the rally in Gboko was a testimony to the fact that Benue people were tired of the PDP and ready for change. “This is a mass movement of Benue people for the defence of democracy”, said Waku who was guest speaker at the rally.
Nuhu Ribadu, Presidential candidate of the ACN said change has come to stay in Nigeria. While calling on Benue people to cast their votes for the ACN governorship candidate, Ribadu who sounded philosophical said: “The broom is here; we will use it to clear all the cockroaches. No more corruption; no more insecurity…”
Chief Bisi Akande, National Chairman of the ACN sounded no less enthusiastic. The PDP government, he said, was becoming desperate and that in their desperation they were resorting to intimidation of the opposition. “But we will not be deterred. We will continue to march on to install an ACN government that will intimidate corruption, diseases, poverty and force the PDP to surrender to the will of the people…”, Akande said.
For Prof. Ugba the ACN governorship candidate for Benue, the tumultuous crowd of broom wielding supporters who brandished the weapon of change as he received the party flag gave him the oracular conviction that indeed change had come.
Hear him: “Come May 29, 2011, we will occupy Government House Makurdi. We are not in this contest to take anything from anyone but to rescue Benue from the jaws of squanderers; our covenant is based on the ideals of the ACN which are anchored on true democracy,” the ACN candidate said.
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