DR Tivlumun Gabriel Nyitse, a former journalist and one-time correspondent of the defunct Concord Newspapers where he rose to become an editor among several appointments. He later served as Permanent Secretary, Benue Government House Administration. He is currently aspiring to become the next governor of Benue state come 2015. In this interview he speaks on his aspiration. Excerpt:

By Peter Duru, Makurdi

YOU have been consulting with the people of the state and canvassing for support and patronage ahead of the 2015 governorship elections, what has been the reaction of the people?
I’m seeking the support of the people of Benue State to serve as governor of the state in 2015. It has been very exciting and challenging. The field has been full of opportunities and uncertainties with human beings behaviour as you cannot say for sure what they tell you. The reception I have received so far is encouraging wherever I went.

What is the purpose of the forum that was recently set up by Masev Ihiarev Nongov Development Association, MINDA, governorship aspirants? What would be your reaction if in the next few weeks the forum decides to narrow down it aspirants to one person?
The MINDA aspirants’ forum was set up basically to ensure a peaceful process that would culminate in the selection of a candidate in a way that we will retain our friendship and retain our originality as individuals and our communality as a people. Because it is dangerous to go to this kind of race and begin to fight each other since only one man would become the governor. If we don’t work in harmony as friends or as brothers by the time only one person is chosen, how do we work with that person because then, we will all have to collapse our programme into one person to support him as governor. The forum is to ensure that we do this business with decorum.

So have you been able to convince some of the governorship aspirants on the need to team up with you so that you can become a stronger force to reckon with?
Like I said we are getting to the time when discussions will be made. From now to a few months to the time, the campaigns will start, we will be discussing with each other. For now, let everybody feel the heat, test the ground and by the time you are going to withdraw, nobody will tell you, then, you will begin to look for allies to bond with. But for now, everybody is feeling like he can do it. Let’s explore the arena to see for ourselves and by the time anybody thinks he cannot continue, he would align with his friends.

Do you think the zoning arrangement of your party favours you?
This is about discussion, dialogue and negotiation in politics. There is always a room for give and take. There would be opportunity for the various interest groups to talk. If they are talking based on criteria, I see myself fitting into all the arrangement on ground. I do not have any disadvantage.

What are you going to do about the worrisome state of public education in the state and how are you going to tackle the destruction in parts of the state occasioned by the invasion of parts of the state by suspected Fulani mercenaries?
This question is very touchy because if you talk of the area where I come from, some parts of Makurdi and Guma, there is no primary school standing now. The schools have been burnt down by the insurgents. There must be deliberate policy of government to ensure that primary schools in the areas come back to functionality.

Whoever that becomes governor must develop policy to ensure that the area comes back to life in terms of education and agriculture. For now, peace has not come back fully but we ask them go back to the area because they must go back to their homes. That is a problem of its own.

However, primary education all over the world has a foundational problem of its own.  So, if I become governor today, I will have to look at the primary school system to see how we can make it better. Every government has the good intention of giving its citizens the best but problems are always there and they can be resolved. If I become governor, primary education would be given priority so that our children can have good foundation.

Take me for instance, all the grammar that I know now, I didn’t know it beyond JSS3; whatever I did from there was building on the foundation. Between primary school and JSS3, if you don’t know anything, you wouldn’t know it again.