September 6, (THEWILL) – Media practitioners on invitation, who gathered at the banquet hall of the Government House, Makurdi, for one hundred days in office interface with governor Hyacinth Alia, went home disappointed, as the event was postponed, citing security meeting as one of the reasons.
This is as the Benue State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), described Alia’s one hundred days in office so far as a fusion of emptiness and disappointment.
The State Deputy Governor, Dr Sam Odeh, who announced the cancellation of the briefing on Wednesday, explained that the All Progressives Congress Governors are gathered for a virtual security meeting, in which Governor Alia is a participant.
According to him, a new date will be communicated in due course and apologised for the inconvenience the postponement will cause to the invited guests.
He said Governor Alia has directed the newly sworn-in Special Advisers to proceed to Abuja in preparation for a two-day workshop held for them on Friday and Saturday this week.
Reacting to the development, the PDP noted that September 5, 2023, marked 100 days of Governor Hyacinth Alia’s assumption of office, and PDP in the state sums up his performance thus far as a fusion of Emptiness and Disappointment.
“It is an incontrovertible fact that he has achieved the worst take off in office of any governor of the state, both military and civilian, since its creation in 1976, with neither direction nor content to be found in anything he has done so far.
“PDP’s assessment of Governor Alia’s performance derives from the template of promises he made during the campaigns and after he assumed office, chiefly amongst which were to return persons displaced from herdsmen genocide (IDPs) back to their ancestral lands as well as to clear arrears of salaries and pensions to workers and retirees, all within his first 100 days in office.”
In a statement signed by the State Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Bemgba Iortyom, on Wednesday, noted that not only did the governor fail to make good on any of those promises, he has evidently not even considered them a priority since their pronouncement.
“If Governor Alia has achieved anything in his first 100 days in office, it is, perhaps a counterintuitive manner of governance which has seen him lock up all government financial accounts, giving as his alibi a fear of hyenas and hawks whom he says are waiting to devour the contents of those accounts.
“Yet, himself has been drawing from the same accounts since he is possibly a ‘lamb and dove’ who won’t touch the funds even as he administers them without the institutional supervision prescribed by law.”
The statement accused Governor Alia of running the most bizarre government ever known under Nigeria’s democracy, with his failure to appoint an Executive Cabinet well after the 60 days required under law, yet did award contracts to the tune of billions of naira within the same period, well above his lawful spending limit of N50 million and without the administrative procedure of Executive Council approval or legislative appropriation.
“If there must be anything ascribed to Governor Alia as a performance track record in his first 100 days in office, it will most likely be a disregard for due process and the rule of law which has brought upon his regime an avalanche of court cases from parties injured from his serial infractions of law.
“Governor Alia also has pinned to his chest the badge of dishonour and infamy as the most vindictive and hate-driven Number 1 citizen of Benue State, with his witch-hunt of his predecessor, ex-Governor, Samuel Ortom, under a since discredited Assets Recovery crusade, and his persecution of opposition elements, notably the arrest and detention of Paul Gyenger.”
PDP, therefore, urged the governor to place a legacy which can only be in the form of governance as it positively impacts the lives of the people and not a vendetta.
Meanwhile, the Secretary to the Benue State Government, Professor Joseph Alakari has passed a vote of confidence on Governor Alia’s administration for doing much within one hundred days in office.
Playing host to the leadership of Zone A political group in Makurdi, the SSG listed the renovation of the Benue State House of Assembly complex, State Civil Service Secretariat, and award of a 16-kilometre road contract for Makurdi township, among others.
