BY PETER DURU, MAKURDI

Barely two weeks to the general elections, political activities in Benue State are gaining momentum with the two notable parties in the state, Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and the All Progressives Congress, APC, making subterranean moves to outdo each other.

The fact is not lost on anyone that the battle for the control of Benue is a straight fight between Governor Gabriel Suswam who is anchoring the PDP war-chest, and Senate Minority Leader, and a former governor, Senator George Akume, of the opposition APC.

These arrow heads of their respective parties in the state are determined to prove their mettle. Their concern, first and foremost, is to take control of the state by winning the governorship election.

This accounts for the much interest the race for who becomes the next governor of Benue has continued to generate.

The PDP is under the firm control of Suswam with support from Senate President David Mark and the Minister of Interior, Comrade Abba Moro.

Gov Suswam

Meanwhile, the ruling party has thrown up Prince Terhemen Tarzoor as its gubernatorial candidate while a former Minister of State for Trade and Investments, Dr. Samuel Ortom, emerged, amid intra party wrangling, as the candidate of Akume and the APC.

With the emergence of these candidates, the rivalry between the two political lords is heating up the polity.

The reason for this is not far fetched, in the event the governor fails to deliver his candidate, his modest achievements in the last 91 months as the chief executive of the state would be confined to the dust bin of history.

If on the other hand Akume loses out in the race, the light in his political life could go extinct because his relevance in the scheme of things would inevitably take a tumble.

Hence, the question on the lips of close watchers of the unfolding drama is, who blinks first in this intriguing battle for Benue?

Whereas the race for the control of Benue would not be won on a platter, events of the past few weeks could provide an inkling as to where the pendulum may swing.

While the PDP seems to be enjoying some level of unity and cohesion among its members including those who lost out in the recently held party primaries, same cannot be said of the APC.

Some days ago, when the campaign train of the APC’s presidential candidate, Gen. Mohammadu Buhari, berthed in Makurdi,  it became obvious that all was not well with the party in the state.

On that occasion, most of the leading members of the party who contested in the botched governorship primary of the APC in Benue were visibly absent at the rally.

Mr. Emmanuel Jime, Senator Joseph Wake, Prof. Steve Ugba, among others, failed to show up at the rally in protest against the alleged imposition of Ortom on them by Akume and the party, as it’s gubernatorial candidate.

The insinuation is that this aggrieved group of persons may deploy their clout across the state to work against APC as a way of getting back at the party and the masterminds of the alleged imposition.

In fact, the issue of imposition of candidates has somewhat became a source of deep rooted acrimony in the APC. Besides the Benue North West where Akume holds sway, the dust raised after the alleged imposition of a former PDP stalwart, Senator Barnabas Gemade, on the party in Benue North East is yet to settle while in Benue South, Mr. Madaki Ameh and renown student unionist, Daniel Onje, are still laying claim to the ticket.

*Ortom

These issues are major challenges for the opposition and, if not properly resolved before February 14, the party may be facing the prospect of a major defeat in an election that may turn out a one way traffic for the well funded and organised PDP.

The PDP appears to be enjoying the brouhaha in the opposition with the unrestrained defection of the PDP members into the ruling party.

While welcoming defecting members of the APC from across the state to the PDP, at the party’s zonal campaign rally in Makurdi, Suswam declared that “a party like the APC that cannot put its house in order just few weeks to a major election, is certainly on a failed mission.”

Suswam continued, “As far as we know, there is much  desperation among APC members and it’s an early signs of despair and failure which is watering the grounds for the eventual victory of the PDP in Benue state and the country at large.”

“Today, we are witnessing consistent defections from the APC to the PDP in Benue state because of the imposition of candidates especially the former PDP Minister, Dr. Samuel Ortom, on the APC as its governorship candidate.

“Ortom claimed I pushed him out of PDP. How can I do that to a man I contributed immensely to his political growth and popularity?

“He left on his own to join the APC out of desperation because he wanted to be governor but failed to pick the governorship nomination of the PDP which Terhemen Tarzor won in a transparent exercise.

“He was immediately imposed on the APC and its members by the leadership, as governorship candidate without partaking in the party’s primaries, despite the vehement opposition of other leading members.

“If he Ortom claimed that the primaries conduct by the PDP in Benue state was skewed forcing him to decamp, how then would he describe the manner he was imposed on the APC by his leader which is currently tearing the party apart?

“His maneuvering was a clear indication that he had been with the opposition from the onset but was pretending to be a member of the PDP, but we are also grateful to people like him because the crisis in the party is watering the grounds for the victory of the PDP.”

Meantime, Akume and the opposition have continued to be self-asserting in their campaigns across the state.

At the flag off of the APC statewide campaigns at the RCM Primary School, Zaki-Biam, Ukum local government area, the senator justified the choice of Ortom as the candidate of the party.

He said although it was the concensus of the majority of the people that the next governor of the state should come from the Masev, Ihiarev and Nongov geopolitical axis, he subscribed to the position of the late J S Tarka that both the Tor Tiv (Tiv paramount ruler) and governor should not come from the same lineage at the same time. According to him, this is why he opted for Ortom instead of Jime.

He explained that political parties were like rivers that needed to be boosted through several means including dredging by welcoming new members otherwise they would become extinct with time.