By Peter Duru, Makurdi

Benue state government has described as shocking, ridiculous and unfortunate the recent statement credited to the All Progressives Congress, APC, governorship candidate, Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Alia who was alleged to have blamed past Governors of the state from 1976 for the “unconscionable looting of public funds” leading to the underdevelopment of the state.

The Special Adviser to the Governor on Media and Publicity, Mr. Terver Akase who in a statement issued on Thursday in Makurdi berated the governorship candidate for the said damning statement which he said came from one who had never held a public office and “totally lacks the capacity to fathom what it takes to govern a state.”

According to Akase, “Alia’s condemnation of all past and present Governors of Benue State, the likes of the late Aper Aku, the late Rev. Fr. Moses Adasu, Senators George Akume and Gabriel Suswam, as well as the incumbent Samuel Ortom as looters and failed Governors rather casts serious questions on his credentials as an aspiring leader. A man who wants to be king does not kill a king.

“The priest is playing to the gallery to curry unmerited favour and praise from unsuspecting people. His attack on the present and previous administrations in the state smacks of hypocrisy, mischief and crass ignorance of what development entails.

“We challenge Alia to publish his track record of achievements qualifying him to seek the office of Governor. Becoming a Governor takes more than merely dancing to the vulgar songs of party supporters who insult opponents daily on the streets.

“Here is a man who does not have any evidence of development in all the places where he worked as a priest before his suspension by the Church. If he could not bring growth to any of the Churches where he served, how can he develop a large entity like the state?

“Thousands of Benue people have been displaced as a result of flooding and herdsmen attacks, but Alia who claims to love the people and ‘wants to liberate them’ has never visited any of the IDP camps to support and pray for the victims. Service to the people does not only happen when a man becomes a Governor.

“An aspirant whose name is not found in the register of the party he claims to be flying its flag needs to be bothered about the web of controversies surrounding his emergence, more than what the previous governments did and what the next Governor of the state plans to do.

“The belligerent and purported APC candidate ought to face his plethora of legal battles arising from the ‘yahoo yahoo’ primaries conducted by the party which produced him, yet, as a dubious character, he openly hailed the process as transparent.

“He is the first and so far the only Nigerian who is said to be a political party candidate but has been vehemently resisted and rejected by all other aspirants and many members of the party.

“Benue people are already weary of Alia’s undercover deals with vested powerful interests outside the state to trade the people for a pot of porridge and his cravings for material wealth.

“Governor Ortom and the former Benue Governors (except one) had no hand in the blunders and willful disregard for due process that characterized the APC primaries in which Alia was a mismatched beneficiary.”

Meanwhile, the Head of Communications, Alia 2023 Campaign Organization, Kula Tersoo who in his reaction distanced the gubernatorial candidate from the said damning statement, describing it as false and misleading.