BENUE GOVERNORSHIP 2015 WHY GWER WEST SHOULD GET THE SLOT As the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has released its time table for the general elections next year indicating that Governorship elections will hold on 28th February, 2015, the race for the Makurdi Government House is becoming more interesting. Many people from all parts of Benue state have indicated their interest to run for the exalted position of governing the state and as the contest gathers momentum, it has become imperative to do a critical analysis of issues concerning the governorship of Benue State in the year 2015 for the purpose of clarity. Before we continue, we wish to state loudly and clearly that the issue of which Sénatorial Zone in Benue State produces the next Governor of the state in 2015 is not for the authors of this piece to decide because, we are on a democracy and in all democracies, it is the right of all qualified citizens except those constrained by statuses of the land to contest for any elective position including the Governorship of a state. Also, in our democracy in Nigeria like so many others on this world, contest for all elective positions are done on the platform of political parties since there is no provision for independent candidature in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Some of these political parties have zoning enshrined in their constitutions while others dont have it in their constitutions. However, for the purpose of convenience, most political parties in this country have over the years, especially since the return of democracy in 1999, Zoned elective offices thus reducing acrimony among their members and heat in the polity. As stated earlier, it is not for us to decide which senatorial zone of Benue State Shou produce the next Governor of the state in 2015. But, as seemingly as it is, if the Benue Governor in next year is to come from the MINDA axis of the state, we will be compelled to make rhe following analysis: MINDA has four Local Government Areas which are Guma, Gwer-East, Gwer-West and Makurdi. Since the creation of Benue State in 1976, three of these Local Government Areas have had several major elective and appointive positions to the neglect of the other. Let us take a periscope of these positions beginning from 1976 to date. I976-1983 the late Peter Tyo from Guma Local Government Area was Chief Whip of the Benue state House of Assembly. October 1983 to December 1983, Hon. Gabriel Inju from Gwer East Local Government Area was Chief Whip 1999-2007, Hon. Bartholomew Orjime from Makurdi Local Government Area was Chief Whip of the State Assembly. In 2007, the late Hon. Stephen Yogbo from Guma Local Government Area was Chief Whip of the Assembly, he later passed on and was succeeded by Hon. Terhemen Tarzoor from Makurdi Local Government Area. 1979-1983, the late Hon. Ayua Num feo. Gwer East Local Government Area was speaker of the Benue state House of Assembly. Between 1991 and 1993, Hon. Stephen Tsav from Guma Local Government Area was speaker of the House and was later succeeded by Hon. Emmanuel jime from Makurdi Local Government Area. In 2011, Hon Terhemen Tarzoor from Makurdi Local Government Area was speaker ofnthe Benue state House of Assembly and when his election into the House of Assembly was nullified by an election Tribunal, Hon. David Iorhemba from Guma Local Government Area took over as Speaker ofbthe House of Assembly. Hon. David Iorhemba later resigned as speaker and was replaced by Hon. Terhile Ayua from Gwer East Local Government Area who is still the presiding officer of the Benue state House of Assembly. Talk about the Senate seat, Senator J.K.N Wakunfrom Guma Local Government Area was the zone B Senator between 1999 and 2003. In 2003, the late Dr. Joshua Adagba from Gwer East Local Government Area was elected into the Senate and when he later died, Senator Fred Orti from Makurdi Local Government Area was elected in his place for the remaining two years. The current minister of State for Trade and Investment and also supervising Minister of Aviation Dr. Samuel Ortom is from Guma Local Government Area. Perhaps, it is important to remind us that Chief Ignatius Nomhwange from Gwer East Local Government Area was the deputy Administrator to the Military Administrator of Benue State Group Captain Bayo Lawal in 1978, a position akin to that of Deputy Governor of a state. The point we are making here is that, all the positions mentioned here, be it Chief Whip of the House of Assembly, Speaker of the Assembly, the Senate, Deputy Governor or Ministerial position, all the other three Local Government Areas in MINDA have had them several times except Gwer West that has never had anynofnthe positions even once. In fact, but for the agitation of MINDA to have the Governorship of Benue state this time, the Senate Seat for Benue North West Senatorial District otherwise called Zone B ought to move from Jemgbagh to MINDA after Jemgbagh would have had two full terms. But as things are playing out, nobody from MINDA is aspiring for the Senate thus implying that they have ceded the Senate to Jemgbagh to clear the coast for the position of Governor to come to MINDA if it is the wish of the people of Benue state. We therefore, make bold to say that, if the position of the Senate for Zone B in 2015 were to go to MINDA, it would automatically have gone to Gwer West Local Government Area because it is the only Local Government Area in MINDA that has never had the Senate before. Now that MINDA has ceded the Senate which could have gone to Gwer West for the position of Governor of the state, it is not simplistic to say that the Governorship of Benue State in 2015 for which the Senate has been ceded by MINDA to Jemgbagh should in the interest of justice and fair play go to Gwer West Local Government Area? We think the answer to this question is YES. Like somebody said in Local parlance, it is where you remove something that you put in another thing. A patient dog they say, eat the fattest bone. It is therefore, our opinion that, since Gwer West is the only Local Government Area in MINDA that has never had the position of Chief Whip of the House, Speaker of the Assembly, Deputy Governor, Senate and Ministerial position, if the position of Governor of Benue State in 2015 is to go to the MINDA axis of the state, it should go to Gwer West Local Government Area. After all, Gwer West parades a galaxy of very qualified aspirants for the position who can take Benue State to the next level of development from where the present administration would have stopped next year. For a graphic viewing of the discuss, we end this piece with a chart as wenwish us all a happy democracy day. 1. POSITION: Chief Whip of House GUMA: ●Peter Tyo. ●Stephen Yogbo GWER EAST: ●Gabriel Inju GWER WEST: ●Nil MAKURDI: ●Bartholomew Orjime ● Terhemen Tarzoor 2. POSITION: Speaker House of Assembly GUMA: ●Stephen Tsav ●David Iorhemba GWER EAST: ●Ayua Num ●Terhile Ayua GWER WEST: ●Nil MAKURDI: ●Emmanuel Jime ●Terhemen Tarzoor 3. POSITION: Deputy Governor GUMA: ● GWER EAST: ●Ignatius Nomhwange GWER WEST: ● Nil MAKURDI: ● 4. POSITION: Senate GUMA: ●J.K.N Waku GWER EAST: ●Joshua Adagba GWER WEST: ●Nil MAKURDI: ●Fred Orti 5. POSITION: Minister GUMA: ●Samuel Ortom GWER EAST: ● GWER WEST: ●Nil MAKURDI:● BY: CONCERNED GWER WEST CITIZENS
Posted on: Thu, 29 May 2014 06:52:42 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015