By Betty Abah
From the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu to Bishop Mathew Kuka, religious figures have always been renown for being some of the most outspoken humans, defending the vulnerable and persistently speaking uncomfortable truth to power. The current Pope is not an exception.
Our state Benue, sadly, has a sitting governor priest namely Rev Fr Hyacinth Iormem Alia who rather than stand out to be counted amongst his priestly peers and upheld by posterity, is frantically playing politics with humans lives, bent on concealing the truths around the genocide happening right under his watch. Our Padre politician who ought to be an emphatic clergy, appears more interested in pleasing his party warheads in Abuja. He is clueless and tiptoeing than declaring war against the renewed existential threat to the poor, farming state.
Today, as killer herdsmen are encircling our state and our people are being killed on a daily basis across the land in both remote farming locations and even at the doorsteps of the state capital, the governor is focused more on PR especially the need to keep the news low and comfortable and obviously dance to the tunes of his party’s paymasters. Who knows if it is the need to elongate his uneventful reign.
In recent times unarmed residents across the state including Agatu, Naka, Asa Otukpo, Otobi Akpa, several communities in Apa, Logo, Kwande, Ukum, Katsina-Ala, Gwer-West Local Government Areas etc have been under attack by the marauders. That of Otobi occured just yesterday.
We are thus asking, mouth agape, ‘What then did we we gain kpa-kpa in voting for a man who is meant to be sold out to God but whose soul is now sold to Federal politics, who is consistently out of touch and completely unfazed by the imminent extermination of his own people (victims being mostly poor farmers in vulnerable hinterlands) by a genocidal squad in the forms of marauding killer herdsmen?
Years back, the catch phrase for his gubernatorial run was ‘Yes Father’ amidst unprecedentedly high hopes that he would bring in priestly dedication, sacrificial fervour and an unmatched accomplishments, but today, just a few years into his administration, it is becoming clear that indeed, the ‘The cowl doesn’tโt make the monk’ and ‘the cassock does not make the priest.’ If it isn’t panadol, it can never be panadol. Our religious sentiments have played a fast one on us and left us with soured taste in our opened mouths.
A couple of days back, Governor Alia asked former presidential candidate, Dr. Peter Obi to turn back from entering the state on a humanitarian visit. Dr. Obi had visited IDP camps in Plateau where he commiserated with the victims, made donations and also met with the Plateau State governor, Governor Caleb Manasseh Mutfwang (who, just like Alia, is not in the same party with Obi). That ordinarily is a natural humanitarian gesture in the face of the lingering waste of precious lives, to support the displaced and put a deserved spotlight on the issue. But Governor Alia would have none of that. Obi would put a dent on his ‘clean’ image and party feathers would be ruffled. Those considerations were more important than the ‘inconsequential’ lives being wasted almost daily in his backyard.
The governor has gone further to ban any form of protests even in the face of daily mass murder of his citizens, an ugly trend to which he is responding lamely in protecting lives and or fishing out the killers unlike his Plateau State counterpart, Governor Mutfwang who is screaming on the rooftops and attracting global attention to an evil that is clearly beyond us as well as taking drastic steps. Plateau and Benue, and nearby Southern Kaduna have been the latest hot beds of the renewed Jihadist campaign, indeed in one instance recently, 51 villagers were killed in Bassa Local Government Areas of Plateau State in a well coordinated attack. Besides ensuing that arrests are made, Plateau State Government has banned night grazing in addition to several other measures. Besides battling Obi and desperately fighting to subdue information flow, Alia appears lost in transit.
And to further buttress the insular natures of the governor and his handlers, when Otukpo was attacked a few weeks back and the governor visited the town, and for an area mourning the dastardly crime leading to loss of several innocent lives, the visit turned out a pomp and pageantry affair with women in uniforms singing and dancing and praising the failing priest. How come nobody in the governor’s ever defensive entourage had the basic emotional intelligence to stop the nonsense and even reason that that was inappropriate and that the charade should never have been broadcast to the outside world?
Kai, our State indeed has indeed been unlucky. After our experience with consistent leadership failure especially in the lootry of our commonwealth, it was assumed that voting in a priest would be ushering in a breath of fresh air and that at last we would start enjoying the dividends of democracy. Alas, that’s not to be the case, rather, this looks like from frying pan to fire. There is no radical infrastructural development, nothing sparkling, rather we have a reinforcement of the old tribal politics and bigotry where almost all the positions and opportunities go to the major tribe from where he hails. In a laughable development, an upcoming state-sponsored music concert has about 99% musicians of Tiv origins. The concert is also meant to be an occasion for the exhibition of resources by all local government areas across the state.
How do you even justify such nonsense? Idoma, the ethnic group that produced the legendary Bongos Ikwue, 2Face Idibia, two winners of the MTN Project Fame competition, sensational gospel singers Chris Morgan, Owie Abutu and so, so many young, upcoming musical talents would have almost zero representation in a statewide showcase of creative talents mid-wived by the state government? So
many other body languages of the governor also show that he is just like any other politician and for a multiethnic state deeply troubled by tribal politics, he didn’t need to be told to be a rallying point and father-figure to all.
To be clear, this is far from an ethnic shading or rant; Tivs are among my best friends and unforgettable benefactors, but even they are also embarrassed by the senseless bigotry that has gone on for eons. If we can’t call a spade by its native name then of what use are we?
It is obvious that this Father is not fathering. The empathy and humanity needed of the typical religious figure are not there neither is the administrative competence. It is one thing to be incompetent or helpless at a situation, it is another altogether to be unfeeling and openly bent on suppressing information around the extermination of fellow humans for political gains. How on earth would a clergy not have regards for the sanctity of lives created by God for whom the faltering Father claims to represent as spokesperson? How?
As we speak, not only are protests banned in Benue, some social media influencers and content creators of Benue origin or resident in Benue who are speaking out about the sad development are being blacklisted or outrightly threatened by the powers that be.
To be candid, former governor, Samuel Ioraer Ortom was generally considered an unbeatable legend in the world of administrative incompetence yet he stood out for one thing– consistently speaking out against the mass murder that similarly ravaged our land under his watch.
So since this Father cannot guarantee safety for his own people as constitutionally mandated, he should step down. For, how can this bloody siege stop when the chief security officer of the state is openly desensitized and far keener on playing politics with human lives than finding solutions to the wanton and absolutely unwarranted loss of innocent lives?
‘NO, Father’, this Father is not fathering the helpless flock. Alas, Alia, ENOUGH!
-Betty Abah is Founder/Executive Director atย CEE-HOPE Nigeria.
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