Stop blackmailing Alia, group tells governorship aspirants
A group, Kunav Progressive Academics (KPA), has cautioned governorship candidates of Kunav extraction to stop blackmailing Benue State Governor Hyacinth Alia. Alia also hails from Kunav, Vandeikya Local Government Area.
A group, Kunav Progressive Academics (KPA), has cautioned governorship candidates of Kunav extraction to stop blackmailing Benue State Governor Hyacinth Alia.
Alia also hails from Kunav, Vandeikya Local Government Area.
Last week, another group from Vandeikya, made up of mainly governorship candidates, known as Collation of Gubernatorial aspirants,from Vandeikya Local Government led by Prof. Terhemba Shija and Ucha Dominic’s wrote a petition against Alia to the Catholic Bishops of Makurdi, Otukpo, Katsina Ala and Gboko dioceses.
In the petition, the governorship aspirants highlighted what they called “sustained attack on churches and their members in the state and accused the governor of being behind the attacks on Christian community.
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Addressing a press conference in Makurdi, on Monday, Kunav Progress Academics’ leaders, Prof Daniel Chile and Prof Elijah Ikpanor, among other academics, described the petition against the governor as unfortunate and mischievous.
They said: “What we found was not a genuine pastoral concern, but a carefully scripted political manifesto disguised as a religious complaint.
Chile said: ‘’We found half-truths presented as facts, metaphors twisted into malice, and ambition dressed in the garb of piety.
“We are here today to set the record straight. We are here to provide the context that was deliberately omitted.
‘’We are here to remind the good people of Benue State that the governor of our state, Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Iornem Alia, is not a sectional leader.
“He is the governor of Benue State, who was elected by the majority of votes across Tiv, Idoma, and Igede land.
“We are also here to identify the individuals behind this petition—men whose names are no strangers to the political chessboard of Benue State.
These are the same individuals who, weeks ago, held a press conference announcing their ambition to unseat governor Alia in 2027. Their petition to the Bishops is simply Chapter two of that same political manifesto.
“But while they speak of rhetoric and threats, we will speak of roads constructed, salaries paid, industries revived, and lives transformed.
“While they weaponise the pulpit, we will defend the sanctuary.
“Governor Alia is a priest, who heeded the people’s call to serve in the temporal order. His presence in the church is first and foremost as a baptised Catholic seeking the Eucharist. To suggest that his former clerical status is a tool for “gaining access to pulpits” is offensive to the clergy and priesthood generally.’’
The group called on the governorship aspirants to sell their candidature before the electorates rather than promote hatred and spray falsehood .
