Hours after former Vice President Atiku Abubakar officially switched to the opposition African Democratic Congress (ADC), the embattled Governor of Benue State, Rev Fr. Hycinth Alia, has paid a suspicious visit to the former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Senator Iyorchia Ayu, an Atiku ally, allegedly to facilitate his defection.

Dr. Ayu was the Director General of Atiku’s Presidential Campaign in 2007 and has remained a strong political ally of the former presidential candidate of the PDP in the 2019 and 2023 elections.

Atiku’s refusal to throw Ayu under the bus as PDP national chairman, amid calls by the G-5 Governors for his removal during the build-up to the 2023 election, confirms the ex-senate president’s strong alliance with the former vice president.

Inside sources reveal that Dr. Ayu is in Benue State to formally register as an ADC member.

It was also gathered that Governor Alia’s unscheduled visit was to seek an alternative platform to actualise his second term, given his inability to mend fences with the majority of stakeholders in the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Benue, particularly his benefactor, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator George Akume.

The development has clearly narrowed the governor’s chances of securing the APC nomination next year, despite the existence of two factions, all recognised by  President Bola Tinubu, who appointed Comrade Benjamin Omakolo of the governor’s faction and Comrade Austin Aganda of the SGF camp as chairmen of the governing councils. Presidential spokesperson Bayo Onanuga has, in recent times, addressed both appointees as Benue State APC chairmen.

Governor Alia has also reportedly turned down directives by President Bola Tinubu to reconcile with party stakeholders when he visited Yelwatta in the aftermath of terrorist attacks on the community that led to over 200 casualties.

The governor is also in open confrontation and currently at daggers drawn with the three senators from Benue, nine out of 11 members of the House of Representatives and more than half of the members of the Benue State House of Assembly.

It was also gathered that Governor Alia has also refused to honour an earlier agreement to reconstitute an all-inclusive State Executive Council after its dissolution.

According to sources, the dissolution was to cede some commissioner slots to the SGF and other major stakeholders of the APC in Benue State.

Inside sources also said the governor equally refused to honour a second leg of peace agreement brokered in Makurdi that led to leadership change in the State House of Assembly, which ousted speaker Aondona Dajoh and other principal officers.

He was to include loyalists of the SGF, particularly Hon Becky Orpine from Gboko, as a replacement for Hon Dajoh or as majority leader.

These, according to our source, have placed the governor in a disadvantaged position that no longer guarantees his return ticket on the APC platform.

A member of the National Assembly from Benue State who spoke anonymously said: “We were very confident that pride won’t allow the governor to honour any of these agreements, and we told the SGF that he will not.

“And let me say clearly that the SGF himself, in the presence of his wife, told this governor that he was not his choice; it was his wife who insisted. He asked his wife to listen as a witness. All the fears we had came to pass.

So he is completely on his own. He has been bragging about his popular support, so let us see how much of it will help him. But all they tell you is that he has no respect for anybody, including the President. He has created a faction of the party in the state, and we now have two chairmen of the APC in Benue State.

But let me say this clearly: he has no pathway to winning the primaries in this party because we will insist on delegate elections, and there won’t be direct primaries where he will bring people who are not card-carrying members of our party to vote for him, like what happened in the last primaries. The earlier he seeks another platform, the better for him, thank you.”

He added, “The President, at the Presidential villa, called the governor aside and asked him to go and reconcile with the SGF and the lawmakers. He told him that he can’t fight that number. But what has he done? The SGF’s wife, who brought him, personally engaged him at a dinner organised for us lawmakers by the Nasarawa State Governor. She told him that she won’t sit and allow him to disrespect her husband. In fact, it was Governor Sule who tried to calm that situation.”

It was gathered that the meeting took place at Senator Ayu’s residence on Nyesom Wike Road, Makurdi, and lasted for two and a half hours.

There were reports some three months ago that former Governor of Benue State, Senator Gabriel Suswam, was tasked with securing a place in the ADC for Governor Alia as a back-up option. However, the state chapter of the party countered the information, declaring that ADC was too big to be a fallback option for anyone.

It was gathered that the majority of the APC stakeholders in Benue State have zeroed in on the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Shipper’s Council, Barr. Pius Akutah, commencing full mobilisation ahead of 2027.

Akutah’s imprints have dominated the state landscape as support groups loyal to the SGF have activated campaign strategies and intensified consultations across the length and breadth of the state.

Akutah, who hails from Kwande intermediate, is favoured for the party’s ticket because of his vast experience, competence and in line with the Benue State Governorship rotational policy, according to sources.

Akutah, according to investigations, has the 2023 consensus of Benue stakeholders that power should return to Kwande in 2027 to complete the circle on his side and work for him at the moment.

The recent demolition of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s campaign office in Makurdi, the Benue State capital and that of another chieftain of the APC loyal to the SGF are indications that the cold war has taken another dimension, and there might be no space for Governor Alia within the APC, hence the search for a new platform.