By Terfa Naswem
In 2010 when I joined active politics in the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), I did so because I wanted a better governor in Benue State who would propel the state to unprecedented Pinnacle.
I supported the Benue State gubernatorial candidate of ACN, Prof. Steve Ugba. I left Jos, Plateau State where I was doing my professional programme in Television Journalism at NTA Television College to campaign and vote before going back. I campaigned relentlessly for Ugba.
In the general election of 2011, he lost his gubernatorial election in a controversial situation against the former governor of Benue State, Dr. Gabriel Suswam who was seeking reelection. I was disappointed but didn’t lose faith in politics. I continued.
When the All Progressives Congress (APC) was formed on 6th February, 2013 as a result of the merger of Nigeria’s three largest opposition parties at that time– the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), and the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) along with a breakaway faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and the new PDP – a faction of then ruling People’s Democratic Party, I continued to participate actively in politics as an APC member.
In 2014, I campaigned relentlessly for Samuel Ortom who was the Benue State gubernatorial candidate of APC. When he won his gubernatorial election in 2015, I thought he would use his experience as the founder of Oracle business and a former minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to turn things around in Benue State. To my greatest disappointment, he failed.
In February 2017 when I began writing articles and making Facebook posts against Ortom, questioning him on why he wasn’t doing the needful with the funds sent to him from the federal government of Muhammadu Buhari, some stakeholders and members in APC called me on phone while others chatted me in my inbox that since I was in APC and promoting the party, it will not be right if I will be criticizing Ortom.
When I told them that Ortom hasn’t done anything significant yet, they said I should be praising Ortom and gave me tips on how I can write such propaganda. That even if Ortom was not doing well, I should just be praising him; if I don’t want to praise him, I should just be quiet and don’t criticize him.
When Ortom rejoined PDP on July 25th, 2018, the same group of people in APC who called and chatted me not to criticize Ortom started criticizing him using the same points I was using to criticize him while he was still in APC.
Today, the same group of people in APC because of their selfish interests, have decided to support and work with the same Ortom they attacked while he left them to rejoin PDP and now criticizing the Executive Governor of Benue State, Rev. Fr. Dr. Hyacinth Iormem Alia who is in APC just because of their selfish interests.
Fr. Adasu was right when he said that politics is not a dirty game, but those who are in it for selfish reasons make it dirty. It shows clearly to me that most of those in APC who were criticizing Ortom while in PDP wasn’t because they loved the good people of Benue State, but as a result of their selfishness.
I never joined politics for selfish reasons. All I ever wanted was for Benue State to be rescued from the dungeon of underdevelopment and propelled to greater heights. And this is exactly what Alia is doing, but anti-development forces are hellbent on thwarting his efforts. As a lover of development, while former governor of Ebonyi State, Engr. Dave Umahi was still in PDP, I wrote some articles to commend him including former governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike for their developments of their respective states.
Those critics of Alia have never commended him for one good thing he has done. Does it mean Alia has not done anything commendable? Since their selfish interests have not been met, whether Alia turns Benue to London, it will mean nothing to them for as long as their selfish interests are not met. This is how dirty these groups of people have turned politics into.
Rev. Fr. Moses Orshio Adasu of blessed memory will always be remembered for this statement because this is exactly what the Executive Governor of Benue is facing right now from most of his critics.
