AS the clock ticks towards the 2019 general election, politics in Benue State is gradually becoming more interesting, especially now that things are falling apart between the state governor, Samuel Ortom and his political leader, Senator George Akume. The duo had enjoyed a smooth and cordial relationship, having weathered the storm of 2015 governorship election together.
The 2015 governorship election was not the first time the two political leaders would work together. At the inception of the present political dispensation in 1999, the duo had belonged to the same political family, the then ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Ortom, who started as the party’s state scribe, rose to become the national auditor and, subsequently, a minister of state before the 2015 general election.
In the same vein, Akume quietly nurtured his political career and became the third executive governor of the state under the PDP, though he left for the opposition party, the then Action Congress of Nigeria. Despite being in different parties, the duo still maintained their good relationship. By the time Ortom lost the PDP governorship primary in December, 2014, Akume was on hand to lend his support and created a platform for him in the newly formed coalition, All Progressives Congress (APC) on the back of which Ortom rode to the state’s position in 2015.
In return for the support, Ortom was said to have reciprocated, on assumption of office, by allowing the most of Akume loyalists to hold strategic offices at the expense of his own supporters.
But like the popular saying, when two elephants fight, the grass bears the brunt, the current rift has led to the sack of Akume’s loyalists, though the governor, who admitted to the rift between him and Akume, had explained that the recent cabinet reshuffle was not to hit back at the former governor, as being speculated in some quarters. He claimed it was to inject new blood into his administration.
“It is true there is a rift between the leader and me. In politics, there is no permanent enemy or permanent friend, but permanent interest. But that doesn’t mean that those sacked were all Akume’s supporters; some of them are my childhood friends, but I just felt that we need to inject new blood into the administration,” Ortom had said.
But the big question the stakeholders in the state are asking is: why and when did things begin to fall apart between the two political leaders?
Though some elements in the APC in the state had foretold the crisis between the two leaders, considering the alleged manner Senator Akume and the erstwhile governor of the state, Gabriel Suswam parted ways in 2008 over what they described as insatiable appetite as commonly found in some king makers, the rift came to many others as a big surprise, especially given the closeness of the two leaders immediately after the elections in 2015.
According to pundits, things seemed to have begun fallen apart between the duo during the selection process of the new Tiv paramount ruler in 2017. The two leaders, according to sources, went in opposite directions and, at the end of the day, Governor Ortom had his way. This development was said to have created a big gulf between the two hitherto allies. They were said to have kept straight faces after the paramount ruler incident and continued as if nothing happened.
An insider who confided in Sunday Tribune said, ‘there are various factors responsible for the rift between the two political leaders. For instance, there was disagreement over the recent selection and appointment of Tor Tiv. Senator Akume had a candidate and the governor too had his own. He had preference for someone who is a born-again Christian; someone who will swear by the Bible. Eventually, the present Tor Tiv emerged.”
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Another remote factor, according to an insider, was the decision of the leader of the party in the state, who forbids the change in party leadership from the ward to state levels during the just concluded party congresses which inadvertently made Senator Akume to hold the party structures in the state.
Former APC chieftain, John Akperashi confirmed this when he said, “all the party structures even in Governor Ortom’s local government ‘Guma’ is in the hands of Akume.”
The other factor may not be unconnected with the newly enacted anti-open grazing law and the ‘’stubbornness’ with which the governor has championed the cause which was seen as an affront to the party at national level.
For instance, the first mass burial which was held in January, in Makurdi attracted both national and international outcry. It was perceived by some powerful interests in the APC to be a confrontation against the Federal Government, especially given that Ortom’s position on the killer herdsmen had received massive boost within and outside the country.
A political analyst in the state, Comrade Friday Ada, said, “I think that the fundamental issue is that there are some people from the state who want to ingratiate themselves with President Muhammadu Buhari. They want to ingratiate themselves to the presidency in Abuja while Governor Ortom wants to maintain the support of Benue people.”
Another political chieftain in the state, a kitchen cabinet member in Ortom’s government, who pleaded not to be mentioned, said the cold war between the two political leaders had been on for quite a long time. He confirmed the several meetings orchestrated by traditional rulers, religious leaders and opinion moulders to broker peace, saying, “each time this is done, one of the leaders was always aggressive.
“The most recent one turned to open abuses by the two leaders and there was no truce, until the meeting was abruptly brought to an end.
“But no one thinks that their relationship could hurriedly turn sour like that; it is true that Senator Akume prepared the ground for the governor in 2015 which made it easy for him to actualise his ambition of becoming an executive governor.
“But the problem is that when pressure is becoming too much, there is bound to be resistance. I think this is exactly what happened between the two political leaders.
“So things got to a point when the governor said, since he was born, he had not seen the kind of pressure his leader, Senator Akume, brought to bear on him.”
“The governor also likened the pressure to a he-goat pestering a she-goat to the extent that she will abort. And then an implacable child crying all the time, if you give her food, he will not keep quiet. If you put her at your back, it is the same.”
He further quoted Ortom to have said that things had gotten to an extent that he could no longer bear it. That even if you have a son and that son had grown up, at least you give the son some level of independence and some level of respect.
On how the rift between the two men could affect the chances of Ortom’s second term bid, the source said only time would tell. He confirmed however that the governor is very much interested in seeking the constitutional re-election. He added that the governor though still has interest in his re-election he is no longer interested in riding on his leader’s (Akume) back to achieve that objective..
He further quoted Ortom to have said, “If he (Akume) has governorship in his pocket like an handkerchief, he should give it to whoever he wants, that he [Ortom] is not interested. That it is impossible for them to work together again.”
A close confidant to Senator Akume, who also did not want his identity revealed, said what happened was not unexpected. He said Akume had always known Ortom would turn against him. “Every successive administration since 2007 rode on his back (Akume) to actualise the political dream after which they turned against him.” So the current did not come as a surprise.
As the supporters of the two leaders admitted to the feud between the leaders, Benue residents will, in coming days, be an active audience and witnesses to who gains the upper hand in the political drama that will be played out.
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