THE BENUE PARADOX: The Continuity of Politics or the Politics of Continuous Development – Lessons from the Akume–Suswam, Akume–Ortom and Akume–Alia Political Trajectories -By Prof. Leonard Karshima Shilgba

There are moments in the political life of a people when history ceases to be merely a record of the past and becomes a warning about the future. Benue State appears to be approaching such a moment.

Political disagreements are neither abnormal nor unhealthy in a democracy. Indeed, robust debate and competition are the lifeblood of democratic governance. What becomes dangerous, however, is when political rivalry assumes a cyclical character that repeatedly undermines stability, weakens institutions, distracts governments from governance, and ultimately makes ordinary citizens the greatest victims.

This essay is not an attack on any individual. Neither is it an attempt to canonize another. It is, rather, an appeal to reason, to history, and to statesmanship. It is an invitation for every discerning Benue citizen—and indeed every stakeholder in Nigeria’s democracy—to ask one fundamental question:

Can a state truly develop when politics never graduates from perpetual succession battles?

That question deserves an honest answer.

Facts matter.

Senator George Akume occupies a distinguished place in the political history of Benue State. He served as Governor between 1999 and 2007 before moving to the Senate, later becoming Minister of Special Duties and Intergovernmental Affairs, and now Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF). Few public servants in contemporary Nigeria have traversed as many strategic positions in public service.

His contributions to Benue politics cannot be erased.

Neither can history itself.

Following the completion of his tenure as governor in 2007, Gabriel Suswam succeeded him.

As political events unfolded, relations between Senator Akume and Governor Suswam deteriorated. The disagreement culminated in Akume’s departure from the PDP to the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), where he supported Ambassador Steve Ugbah against the incumbent Governor Suswam during the 2011 gubernatorial election.

The electorate rendered its verdict.

Governor Suswam secured a second term.

Years later, another chapter opened.

In 2015, Senator Akume played an instrumental role in the emergence of Dr. Samuel Ortom as Governor under the APC platform.

Again, political harmony proved short-lived.

Before long, deep disagreements emerged between the political leader and the governor. Ortom eventually left the APC, returned to the PDP, and sought re-election in 2019 against the APC candidate, Emmanuel Jime, who enjoyed Senator Akume’s support.

Once again, Benue voters made their decision.

Governor Ortom won re-election.

Ironically, that same election also witnessed Senator Akume’s defeat in his bid for another Senate term.

History moved on.

Then came 2023.

Rev. Fr. Dr. Hyacinth Iormem Alia emerged as the APC gubernatorial candidate after a highly contested primary process and subsequently won the governorship election with a decisive mandate. Public reports at the time widely acknowledged Senator Akume’s influence within the APC and his support for Alia’s emergence.

Barely had the new administration settled into office when political disagreements began surfacing.

Today, few informed observers deny that a profound political rift exists between Governor Alia’s camp and that of Senator Akume. The disagreements have manifested in disputes over party leadership, parallel APC structures, litigation, and competing political alignments. The fact of the disagreement is no longer in dispute; only its causes and possible resolution remain subjects of political debate.

Democracies should not fear difficult questions.

One question therefore naturally arises:

Why has every Benue governor after 2007 eventually found himself in serious political disagreement with the same political leader?

This question is not an accusation.

It is an observation arising from publicly documented political history.

Reasonable people may differ on the answers.

Supporters of Senator Akume may argue that successive governors abandoned agreed political understandings or failed to consult sufficiently.

Supporters of Governors Suswam, Ortom, and now Alia may argue that each administration sought the constitutional independence that naturally accompanies the office of governor.

Either interpretation deserves respectful consideration.

Yet one fact remains beyond dispute:

Benue has repeatedly paid the price of prolonged intra-party conflict.

Instead of concentrating national attention on development, investors have often encountered headlines dominated by political disputes.

Instead of sustained institutional consolidation, governments have been compelled to devote enormous political energy to internal survival.

Instead of building consensus, political camps have multiplied.

The casualty has rarely been the politician.

The casualty has been governance.

Development is impossible without political stability.

Roads are not constructed in an atmosphere of perpetual political hostility.

Schools are not transformed by factional supremacy.

Hospitals do not improve because party leaders exchange accusations.

Investors do not study political slogans.

They study predictability.

Civil servants perform best when government is stable.

Markets flourish when salaries and pensions circulate consistently.

Agriculture expands when policy remains focused rather than distracted.

Every month spent managing internal political warfare is a month diverted from solving citizens’ problems.

This is why the most successful democracies eventually discover an enduring truth:

Political competition should end where governance begins.

Unfortunately, Benue has too often struggled to make that transition.

The people elect governors to govern—not to spend years defending their political legitimacy against recurring internal battles.

History therefore presents Benue with an uncomfortable question:

Has the recurring cycle of political confrontation advanced the welfare of ordinary citizens?

The answer is one every reader must supply for himself or herself.

But it is difficult to argue that persistent political instability constitutes a development strategy.

The ultimate test of democracy is not who wins political arguments.

It is whether ordinary citizens live better lives.

Roads do not ask who controls the party structure.

Hospitals do not distinguish between political tendencies.

Teachers do not educate only supporters of one faction.

Farmers do not harvest according to party alignments.

Government exists for one reason: to improve the human condition.

That is why the political conversation in Benue today should increasingly revolve around governance rather than political supremacy.

From the outset of his administration, Governor Hyacinth Iormem Alia repeatedly projected himself as a governor for all Benue people rather than for any political bloc. In several public engagements, he has emphasized that government institutions should operate according to law and due process, not according to the dictates of individuals or competing political interests.

His consistent public message has been that appointments, administration, and governance should be guided by constitutional responsibility and institutional procedure rather than personal patronage. Whether one agrees with every decision of his administration or not, that governing philosophy has remained remarkably consistent.

It is perhaps this insistence on institutional independence that many analysts consider one of the underlying sources of the political disagreement now evident within the Benue APC. That interpretation remains an inference rather than an established fact, but it is one that has featured prominently in public commentary surrounding the dispute.

Every governor elected by the people inevitably confronts a constitutional reality:

The office belongs to the people—not to any political tendency.

That constitutional responsibility sometimes creates tensions whenever expectations differ regarding the exercise of executive authority.

Such tensions are not unique to Benue.

What matters is how they are managed.

Political disagreements should never blind citizens to measurable governance outcomes.

Every administration must ultimately be judged not by the volume of political rhetoric surrounding it but by observable improvements in public administration and service delivery.

Supporters of Governor Alia point to several areas in which they believe the administration has distinguished itself.

These include greater fiscal discipline, more regular payment of salaries and pensions, renewed investment in road infrastructure, expansion of healthcare facilities, interventions in education, renewed attention to agriculture and value-chain development, and efforts to strengthen local government administration.

Even critics of the administration generally concede that fiscal management has become a defining theme of Governor Alia’s tenure, although opinions differ regarding the pace and breadth of implementation across sectors.

Regular payment of salaries and pensions deserves particular mention because it has consequences extending far beyond the public service.

When salaries are paid consistently, traders sell more goods.

Transport operators carry more passengers.

Landlords collect rents.

Private schools receive tuition.

Markets become more active.

Small businesses expand.

Economic circulation increases.

This is one of the least appreciated but most significant forms of economic stimulus available to any state government.

Likewise, renewed emphasis on agriculture is especially important for Benue.

No serious development strategy can ignore the state’s comparative advantage as Nigeria’s food basket.

Improving agricultural productivity, processing, storage, and market access is not merely an agricultural policy.

It is an economic transformation strategy.

Similarly, investments in education and healthcare are not consumption expenditures.

They are investments in human capital—the foundation upon which future prosperity depends.

These are the indicators by which history eventually judges governments.

Not the frequency of political press conferences.

Perhaps no recent public intervention better captures the national concern over developments in Benue than the appeal made by Vice President Kashim Shettima.

Speaking publicly in the presence of both leaders, the Vice President made an unusually direct appeal to Senator George Akume and Governor Hyacinth Alia to reconcile.

His words deserve careful reflection.

“We make a special appeal to His Excellency Senator George Akume and His Excellency Governor Hyacinth Alia to mend fences and work as a team… You are an elder statesman. Reach out to our junior brother. Let’s build Benue together. Benue deserves peace. Benue deserves development.”

That statement was remarkable for several reasons.

First, it publicly acknowledged what many Nigerians already knew—that a serious political disagreement exists.

Second, it recognized Senator Akume’s extraordinary public service and appealed to that experience as a basis for statesmanship rather than confrontation.

Third, and perhaps most importantly, it shifted attention away from personalities toward the welfare of Benue people.

“Benue deserves peace.”

“Benue deserves development.”

Those two short sentences may well represent the most important political message delivered to Benue in recent times.

Because ultimately, politics is valuable only to the extent that it produces peace, stability, and development.

Everything else is noise.

No political system is perfect.

Lagos certainly has its critics.

Yet few objective observers dispute one reality:

Successive administrations in Lagos have generally built upon the institutional foundations laid by their predecessors.

Projects continued.

Policies evolved.

Institutions matured.

Political disagreements existed, but governance retained continuity. And Lagos political leaders, rather than Abuja elites, resolved those disagreements in Lagos.

The result is visible.

Whether one examines transportation, internally generated revenue, urban planning, education, healthcare, or public administration, Lagos demonstrates what sustained policy continuity can accomplish over decades.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu understands this better than most Nigerian politicians because he helped shape that trajectory.

That is why the Benue situation deserves his thoughtful attention.

The issue is not choosing between two respected political figures.

The issue is protecting a democratic mandate while preserving party cohesion and encouraging development.

No President committed to the ideals of the Renewed Hope Agenda can be indifferent when internal political conflict threatens to overshadow governance in one of Nigeria’s strategically important states.

History suggests that great political leaders are remembered less for the victories they secure over rivals than for the institutions they leave behind. And institutions cannot be built when compliance with societal laws is viewed as optional even by those that signed them.

That is the challenge before everyone with influence over the future of Benue.

Politics should become the servant of development—not its master.

Every generation must decide whether it will inherit history or improve upon it.

Benue stands today at precisely such a defining moment.

The issue before the state is no longer merely whether Governor Hyacinth Alia and Senator George Akume will reconcile. Reconciliation, important as it is, is only a means to a greater end, and must stand on mutually agreeable principles—including governance principles—if it will endure beyond the cycle of immediacy. As testified by the Great Book, “can two walk together except they be agreed?” no rhetoric can alter this timeless truth.

The real issue is whether Benue will finally institutionalize a political culture in which development is protected from the turbulence of personal rivalry.

That should concern every citizen, irrespective of political affiliation.

History teaches that no society prospers when every electoral cycle becomes a struggle over political ownership rather than public service.

The office of Governor is created by the Constitution—not by any political leader.

Likewise, no governor succeeds in isolation.

Political mentors deserve respect.

Party structures deserve recognition.

Constitutional authority deserves obedience.

These truths are complementary, not contradictory.

The challenge of statesmanship is to harmonize them.

Senator George Akume has earned a distinguished place in the political evolution of Benue State. His decades of public service—from civil servant to Governor, Senator, Minister, and Secretary to the Government of the Federation—constitute a remarkable public career. History will remember those achievements.

Yet history reserves its highest honors not merely for builders of political influence, but for builders of political institutions.

The greatest legacy any elder statesman can leave is not that every political contest bears his imprint, but that future generations inherit a political culture mature enough to thrive without perpetual internal conflict.

Governor Hyacinth Alia likewise carries an enormous historical responsibility.

His electoral mandate was unusually broad, reflecting the hopes of a population yearning for a departure from politics as usual. Expectations of his administration are correspondingly high.

If his government continues to deepen fiscal discipline, strengthen public institutions, improve infrastructure, expand educational opportunities, improve healthcare, support agriculture, and sustain the regular payment of salaries and pensions, then history will judge him primarily by those measurable outcomes—not by the intensity of political opposition he faced.

Performance remains the strongest argument any democratic leader can make.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu also occupies a unique position in this unfolding story.

Few Nigerian leaders understand the developmental value of political continuity better than he does. The Lagos experience demonstrates that sustainable transformation is rarely achieved through perpetual internal warfare. It is achieved through institutional stability (achieved by adherence to predictable laws), policy continuity, and an unwavering commitment to governance.

That is why the President’s repeated call for reconciliation between Senator Akume and Governor Alia deserves careful consideration. Publicly, he has urged unity within the APC and encouraged bridge-building between both leaders in the interest of Benue and the party.

This is not because disagreement is illegitimate.

It is because prolonged instability carries costs that ordinary citizens eventually pay.

The public appeal by Vice President Kashim Shettima was equally significant. Addressing both leaders, he urged them to “mend fences and work as a team,” adding that “Benue deserves peace” and “Benue deserves development.” Those words captured the essence of democratic leadership: governance must ultimately prevail over rivalry.

The lesson extends beyond Benue.

Every political party should recognize that internal democracy must never become internal destruction.

Every political leader should remember that loyalty to the people ultimately surpasses loyalty to factions.

Every governor should appreciate that consultation strengthens leadership rather than weakens it.

Every elder statesman should remember that influence reaches its noblest expression when it produces stability instead of uncertainty.

Politics is temporary.

Institutions endure.

Power is transient.

Legacy is permanent.

Perhaps that is the enduring lesson Benue must now embrace.

The state possesses abundant human capital, fertile agricultural land, entrepreneurial energy, resilient communities, and a strategic place within Nigeria’s federation.

Its greatest limitation has never been a shortage of potential.

Too often, it has been the inability of politics to subordinate itself to development.

That cycle can be broken.

Indeed, it must be broken.

The future of Benue should never again depend upon recurring contests over political supremacy.

It should depend upon measurable progress in agriculture, education, healthcare, infrastructure, security, industrialization, fiscal responsibility, and the dignity of its people.

That is the politics worthy of Benue.

That is the politics worthy of Nigeria.

And that is the politics history will ultimately reward.