By GEORGE ONAH

PORT HARCOURT – The Benue State Governorship candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN in the 2011 election, Professor Steve Ugba, has raised alarm over alleged threat to his life by supposed  “henchmen of Governor Gabriel Suswan of the state.”

Ugbah, who spoke to Vanguard in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, at the weekend, alleged that “some elements in Suswan’s administration want to eliminate me at all cost and the constant threat to my life is the same overall security challenge we are facing everyday in Benue State.

“Benue is under siege not only from Suswan but from Fulani herdsmen in Naka, Ngwe and Guma communities which have been attacked. Civil servants and teachers are being transferred to hostile territories and traditional rulers are constantly harassed, their salaries withheld because they were perceived to have voted for ACN,” he added.

On why he was the target of attack, Ugbah said it stemmed from his insistence on claiming his “stolen mandate, which was freely given by the Benue people”, explaining that it would “be an abomination and a mark of utter irresponsibility not to pursue the mandate to its logical conclusion.”

Ugbah said he would pay the N18,000 minimum wage if he reclaimed his mandate as “the new governor of Benue State because it is evident that we won the election and we would soon be proven right by the election tribunal. Our case would be a test case for democracy in the country.”

He also asked Governor Suswan to declare the debt profile of the state because the “people would want to know how Suswan got money to buy Prado jeeps for traditional rulers just as about 300 new buses were purchased for all the wards in the state.The people would like to know where he got the money to buy the vehicles.’’