By Peter Bem
A social-cultural organisation, Mbatiav Unity Forum, has strongly condemned the continuous exclusion of representation in the Benue State Assembly.
This was contained in a press statement on Sunday signed by their president, Barr Terwase Gbasha, and made available to newsmen in Makurdi.
The group who claimed to be the maternal kinsmen of Gov. Hyacinth Alia accused him of using and dumping them.
According to them, the Mbatiav people contributed more than 40 per cent of the massive votes which heralded the emergence of the Governor into office in 2023.
They commended the Governor for facilitating the emergence of their son.
Mr Aondona Dajoh to emerge as the Speaker of the 10th Benue State House of Assembly in 2023.
“Recently and suddenly, the Governor became very hostile against all Mbatiav children that are holding important positions in his government.
“He created circumstances that pressured Hon. Aondona Hyacinth Dajoh into tendering a resignation letter as Speaker of the 10th Assembly. The reason for the hostility was not openly stated, but he (the governor) alleged that the speaker plotted to impeach him!
“This was quite a laughable reason because there was no basis for such an allegation; impeachment procedures of a governor are quite tedious, and they are clearly outlined in the enabling document, the grundnorm, which is the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended).
“It cannot be done overnight; it cannot be done by a single person. It was therefore quite funny that Governor Alia brought up that allegation and used the same to force Aondona Dajoh to “resign” from the position of the Speaker,” he said.
They regretted that the governor failed to inform his maternal kinsmen of the allegations before allegedly forcing the former speaker to resign.
“His Excellency, Governor Alia, did not call us, the Mbatiav people, and present those allegations he brought up against Dajoh (who is our son) for us to investigate and, if found wanting, to chastise him over the same.
“Rather, our governor chased him and invariably chased us away from that lofty seat.
“To worsen matters, the Governor took the seat and gave it to MINDA! Dajoh and Alia are our children, and if Dajoh had done any act which posed hindrance to the smooth administration of the governor, the governor ought to have brought that to our notice, and we would have never kept quiet over that!” they insisted.
The group again accused the governor of orchestrating the suspension of Dajoh after his resignation as speaker from the proceedings of the House for nine months.
“As it stands today, Alia has succeeded in totally removing Gbemacha and the entire Jemgbagh from the affairs of Benue State.
“We have no single voice in the Benue State Legislative Organ; the speakership position, which was zoned to Jemgbagh by the APC hierarchy, was singularly removed by Governor Alia, and no other position was allocated to this bloc by Alia,” they said.
They further urged the Governor to cause the lifting of the suspension slammed on the lawmaker immediately and restore him as the speaker of the house. (ephemeralnews.com.ng)
