Sir: Only God the Almighty can explain the inexplicable love for catholic priests by the people of Benue State, considering that the state is not predominantly catholic. I stand to be corrected.
On March 18, 2023 Reverend Father Hyacinth Alia, the governor of Benue State made history by becoming the second Roman Catholic Priest to be elected as governor of a state in Nigeria. Before Alia, the people had pitched their tent with the late Reverend Father Moses Adasu, another catholic priest, who is fondly remembered for establishing the Benue State University.
Like they say, the morning shows the day. The manner and the extent to which the “peoples governor” went to stop Becky from becoming the speaker showed very clearly that the governor intended to be a lone ranger and not because he wanted to resist “control”.
But while governor Alia might be getting away with demonising the party and the other critical stakeholders that sponsored him, the tactics that has allowed him carry on unchallenged as the Imperial Emperor of Benue State, he should be wary of his appointees who are angry with him for treating them with utmost levity.
He is being accused of inaccessibility, of being incommunicado. How on earth does Alia believe that he can accomplish his assignment without the assistance of his team and other stakeholders? If Alia doesn’t want to deal with the Akume group, why is he also refusing to deal with his bunch of inexperienced appointees?
No matter how much experience Alia has as a leader, he can always make do with more because being a leader is all about decision making and your appointees providing inputs and recommendations to help make decisions. Great leaders know when to yield their own opinions when someone offers an opinion that is better, but Alia is not getting these inputs and support because of his I know it all attitude.
Alia, unlike Suswan and Ortom is paying salary. That should be no news as the states are swimming in money except for a state like Kaduna that is heavily indebted due to its domestic and foreign loans. The honeymoon seems to be over, as the people who believe that a Daniel has come to judgement are beginning to ask when the outstanding arrears from the Gabriel and Ortom eras would be paid. In February 2024 Federation allocation, the state received a whopping N9.7 billion, so Alia has no reason not to pay, especially with the President admonition to governors to pay.
Will Alia, in future be in a position to postulate and to condemn politicians for exactly the same crimes that he is committing?
Danjuma Musa
