2019: The battle ahead in Benue Northeast

As the 2019 general elections draw closer, more indications are merging that some senatorial seats will be keenly contested largely because of the personalities of the contenders, their political status and age-long rivalries, among other reasons. Uja Emmanuel in Makurdi reports that the Benue Northeast senatorial seat is one of such battlegrounds to watch out for.

THE northeastern senatorial district of Benue State, otherwise known as zone A, is surely going to witness a fierce battle among the candidates jostling for its senatorial seat come 2019. Ex-governor Gabriel Suswam is the senatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the area, while former national Chairman of the PDP, Chief Barnabas Gemade, emerged as the standard bearer of the Social Democratic Party (SDP).

And as if the parade of the political heavyweights is not enough, former Military Administrator of Katsina state, Col. Joseph Akaagerger, picked the ticket of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) for the senatorial election and the All Progressives Congress (APC), on its part, presented former Benue Internal Revenue Service (BIRS) boss, Mimi Orubibi, as its candidate for the northeastern senatorial battle.

Unlike in 2015, when the contest for the senatorial seat was a straight battle between Gemade and Suswam, a new dimension has been added to the 2019 election with the return of the immediate past Senator representing the district, Senator Joseph Akaageger, as a contender in the race. The ex-Milad was denied a chance to return to the senate in 2015 when he and others, including Suswam, were shoved aside by Gemade who made it to the red chamber on the platform of the APC.

Since he lost the 2015 senatorial election to the present occupant, Gemade, the former governor of Benue State, has remained in the party and worked assiduously to reposition the then opposition party as he prepares to take a second shot at the seat in 2019.

Suswam, unlike Gemade, remained in the PDP since he joined the party, Gemade, on the other hand, left the party and joined the APC in 2014, when it was obvious that he was not going to win the primaries against the then incumbent governor, Suswam, in 2014. The former PDP boss went ahead to defeat Suswam in the political tsunami that sent the PDP packing in 2015.

Now, Gemade has dumped the APC. He did alongside Governor Samuel Ortom and joined PDP. But his return to his former party, where he was once the national chairman, hit the rocks largely because Suswam was the sole financier of the party prior to the return of Governor Ortom and his people. The attempt by Gemade to corner the PDP senatorial ticket on his return was resisted by Suswam’s camp.

Before the defections, party congresses had been completed with the former governor having the upper hands in almost all party offices where he planted his men in the state, local government and the ward levels. At the zonal level, it is the same story as Suswam is firmly in control of PDP structure. This accounts for the reason why Gemade did not waste time, defecting again to SDP, less than one month after he left APC to join PDP.

“In fact, Gemade accused Ortom of betraying him in the political realignment that saw both of them defecting, but Governor Ortom, through his media aide, Tahav Agerzua, dismissed the allegations saying “Ortom doesn’t betray people. He also joined PDP and canvassed for delegates and has no control over them.” From the above scenario, the former governor entered the race with his eyes boldly set on the senatorial seat.”

He is not a push-over in the senatorial zone and the former governor’s greatest weapons are his benevolence and the cult-like followership he commands. With a large crowd of supporters who are ready to do his biddings at all times, he looks ready to wrestle the seat from Suswam come 2019. Dom Agya, as the former governor is known and called by his admirers, according to his supporters, has empowered many people and given many opportunities to youths and women in the zone. That perhaps explains why they are massively behind him in his quest to represent the zone in the senate.

Gemade on his part is a founding father of the PDP, arguably one of its most successful chieftains in the state haven emerged as its national chairman and board of trustees member in his sixteen years of membership. A two-term senator and the current occupant of the Benue north-east senatorial seat, is today the SDP senatorial candidate for the zone in 2019 election.

Some analysts insist the former chairman of PDP is a candidate to beat, having occupied the zone A Senate seat for eight years, and as such, cannot be said to be a push over. Gemade, it was gathered, has executed many protects in the zone since emerging as its senator. For these and other reasons, his supporters are saying in spite of his defection to SDP, he will retain the seat.

In 2015, when nobody gave him a chance, he defeated an incumbent governor. The same scenario may play out in 2019. Even those who want Gemade out are not complaining about his achievements, but are saying he has completed two terms of four years each and should therefore give way for someone else to occupy the senatorial seat come 2019.

This is just as some others are saying he is too old to remain in the senate as the representative of Benue northeast. But his supporters have found an answer to this; Baba shi Aza (means let Baba Gemade go back to the senate with experience). Personally, Senator Gemade is not bothered about what his detractors are saying, as he is going about his campaigns with a mindset that he is the better candidate.

For Mimi Orubibi, little was known about this woman until she was appointed the Chairman of Benue Internal Revenue Service (BIRS) through the influence of Senator George Akume at the inception of Governor Ortom’s administration. She was, however, fired after three years in the saddle following disagreement between Ortom and his estranged political godfather, Senator Akume.

She emerged the APC senatorial candidate for Benue northeast after defeating four other candidates in the party’s senatorial primary election. One of the arguments of those opposed to her aspiration is that she is married to a man from Niger Delta. But her supporters insist that since she hails from Kwande Local Government, an area currently laying claims to the senate seat based on an unwritten zoning arrangement, she is the candidate to beat.

Also, Orubibi is no doubt a leading candidate because of the popularity of the APC in the state, coupled with the fact that she is favoured by the disputed zoning arrangement in the senatorial district. Not a few analysts are also of the opinion that the support and backing she enjoys from former Governor Akume will also give her an edge over the other contestants.

Akaagerger, the former military administrator in the race, once defeated Gemade and was elected senator for four years.  But his attempt to return to the senate failed as Gemade bounced back to defeat him. Today, he has joined the group of candidates hoping to prevent the current occupier of the senatorial seat, Gemade, from returning for another term in office.

Interestingly, Akaagerger was the leader of the SDP in Benue State before Gemade came in after his short-lived return to the PDP and sent him packing. He cried foul after the process that handed Gemade the SDP ticket but the political weight of the former PDP national chairman was too much for the national leadership of the SDP to toy with. Consequently, they handed him all the party structures.

Not to be deterred in his bid to return to the senate for another stint come 2019, Senator Akaagerger promptly picked the senatorial ticket of the PRP. But analysts are wondering how the politician commonly referred to as “Ambe u Konshisha”, clinched the senatorial seat on the platform of the PRP, a political party that is not well known in Benue State. Only the final outcome of the senatorial election can answer this question.