BY PETER DURU
GOVERNOR Gabriel Suswam of Benue state embroiled in a political face-off with some prominent
political figures from the state that he had hitherto co-habited with. Among them are his immediate
predecessor, Senator George Akume and former Senate President, Iyorcha Ayu, who have become patrons of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN.

Suswam

Speaking with newsmen last weekend on the challenges facing him on his political turf, Suswam radiated confidence that his executed projects and the lack of performance by his predecessor would combine to his favour in the gubernatorial elections. Excerpts:

The campaigns have been filled with personality attacks and devoid of issues, why?

I started election as an independent minded person. Ugbah (Prof. Steve Ugbah, ACN gubernatorial candidate) has two godfathers, who in the past from their antecedents have nothing to offer the people of Benue.

Any person who has two godfathers cannot run a state. Even with one godfather it is impossible for you to run a state. These godfathers have paraded themselves in the rally they held in Gboko that they are the ones bringing change, that they are the ones bringing the governor. It is absolutely very dangerous for a state to have somebody who does not have a mind of his own, who himself does not have the ambition to be governor, other than some puppet masters who have brought him forward and that is an issue.

I have also raised issues as to the performance of these puppet masters because they are the ones presenting Ugbah. So, I am running an election with them and not Ugbah. The former governor has been governor for eight years, I can point at things that I have done within three years, eight months. Let us compare what he has done in eight years.

This is an issue as far as our elections are concerned. I have raised these issues, I have not insulted anyone, I have raised issues that border on the performance. Ugbah of course we cannot raise the issue of performance because nobody knows him, we were only told that he was a professor in America, nobody knows what he was doing over there, we cannot take the risk. The people of Benue cannot put their destiny in the hands of an unknown quantity.

For the puppet masters who have presented him, Ayu has been minister thrice. It was when he was Minister of Industry that Benue Cement was sold. We have all the details of the transaction and we know what went on. This is an issue as far as this election is concerned.

In Taraku Mills, heavy loans were taken under the leadership of George Akume. Manasseh Joshua was locked up, yet we have no explanation as to where the money went to. I had to pay because Taraku Mills was put on receivership. I have paid about two hundred and seventy million (N270 million), that is an issue as far as this election is concerned.

This clearly shows that Akume has nothing to offer the people of Benue because of his antecedents. He said that he gave contracts for roads and I am taking the credit for it. If you were governor for eight years and you cannot construct road and then you say that the person that succeeded you is taking credit, I don’t know what to believe. There is nothing like that.

In the last six months of his administration, he awarded contracts for the construction of some few rural roads, he awarded the rural roads from Amafu to Ugbah to one company called Jukok, he awarded another between Nwanune to Igbo to the same company, the man was mobilized with two billion naira.

Apart from the road between Amafu to Ugbah   and to Anyin which was done, the one leading from Nwanune to Igbo is there for anyone of you to go and check whether any grader even went there but two billion was given to the man, the case is before the EFCC. He also gave a contract to one company called Romix, the road is between UNIAGRIC to Gbajimba. It is there for all of you to go there and see whether that road was constructed.

There is a contract that was given between Koryan and Vandeikya, that contract has not been handed over, go there and see whether it is a road constructed, it has failed. If you are going from Adikpo to the border with Obudu, the road has not been handed over, it has failed completely.

The total cost for those roads was given at fourteen billion, two billion was mobilized, I had to pay twelve billion since I came, I have almost finished because I contracted the same contractor who was doing it. I never bothered myself about this issues because I wanted to draw a line and move forward. At the Makurdi Water Works, there was no block in place.

The contract was given in 2001 at the cost of three billion naira for forty five thousand cubic meters per day by 2007. All that was done was some excavation. Seven hundred million naira was mobilized to the contractor, that is an issue as far this election is concerned. Within two years, I have completed the construction, what they are doing now is fittings and by June this year, that water treatment plant will be running.

Akume stayed in the annex of the presidential lodge in government house which is a two bedroom boys quarters of the presidential lodge. I have finished construction of a befitting government house. That is an issue.

That is to show that Ugbah’s puppet masters have nothing to show for the people of Benue state and they are presenting somebody we don’t know whom I and the people of Benue believe has nothing to offer because the people who are presenting him have nothing to offer the people. These are issues and they are the issues I am presenting to the people of Benue state as I am campaigning round. I want them to come out with facts. They said I have not done anything.

That is laughable because I have completed the road leading from Adikpo to Ikyogen to Jato Aka. I have completed the road to Ugbokolo up to Eke.  I have completed the reconstruction of General Hospitals. I am constructing the dualization of Abu King Shuluwa road within the town here and you see there is a whole lot of difference. I am doing three water treatment plants one in Katsina_Ala, one in Otobi and one in Makurdi.

I have done the road between Ugbokpo up to Oshigbudu, it is there on ground. I am doing the road between Otukpo to Igumale, they have done more than half of that. The road from the headquarters of Okpokwu local government up to Utonkon is ongoing. So, it is laughable when you say I have not done anything.

You came hard on your predecessor, Senator George Akume for non_performance notwithstanding that you started on a good note with him and suddenly everything fell apart. What really is the problem between the both of you that cannot be resolved?
In politics, what matters to people is permanent interest. People can change allegiance anytime, so Senator Akume has moved to another party and I remain in PDP and so, we are operating on two different political platforms. So, as far as I am concerned, Akume is no longer an issue within the PDP and so, I don’t take that as an issue. We are facing the election, he is in a different and I am in a different party and so, at the end of the polls, whoever wins, wins. I have no problem with that.

Could you please explain why there is this massive gang_up against your re_election bid by the opposition.
That is politics. I am somebody who likes challenges. I am at my best when I face challenges in life. Like you said, the former governor has moved to the ACN.

Senator Akkagerger participated in the primaries of the PDP and lost to chief Barnabas Gemade and now defected to ACN. Senator Akaagerger is a political paper weight as far as the party and the politics of Zone A is concerned. He will never win that seat. So, I don’t consider his defection as anything.

You mentioned former deputy speaker and the former speaker. The former speaker took over from me at the House of Representatives. He also knew he was going to lose the primaries in the PDP and also defected to ACN. He also as a former Speaker, has people who are following him but I want to let you know that he can never win that election in that federal constituency.

For the former deputy speaker, I am not sure whether he is contesting anything. I am not also aware of his defection but if he has done that, we also have heavy political weight within Otukpo like the Senate President and the Minister of state, Niger Delta among a couple of heavy_weights within Otukpo local government and so, he would have to contend with them.

If these political actors have defected to the other party, of course, in politics, people must follow somebody and you don’t expect that elections such as governor would be a tea party. I am not expecting that. And so, people are bound to take own their decisions. You can’t force people in politics to do what they don’t want to do.

So, they are exercising their constitutional rights and I have no problem with that. We are all going into elections. At the end of the election, somebody will definitely win. And whoever wins, I believe we will congratulate ourselves and move forward.

How correct are the insinuations that you have been replaced as the North-Central Co-ordinator of the Jonathan / Sambo ticket?

(Laughs) I think these are issues that you should dismiss. These are some of the things that come as a result of envy that why should I be coordinating the entire north_central. So, it’s a big deal if I am replaced. It then means that it is an issue to them that I was the coordinator of Jonathan in the north central. They don’t replace people through rumour.

I have not been replaced, I will never be replaced, I will see through that Jonathan wins the north central zone overwhelmingly. It is wishful thinking from the opposition camp. They are worried and they will continue to be worried.

At the beginning of your administration, there was this zeal to do projects but at a point, this zeal slowed down. What was responsible for this?

Capital projects are a function of availability of funds. You would see that by next week, the tempo will pick up because I am going to flag off the two roads; the one in Oju, through Idele Okposa to Utonkon and the other one between Taraku to Agagbe. Resources dwindled and so, there was a slow down on road projects. Road project is highly capital intensive especially when you give it to serious minded companies.