…says Atiku will do better
The 2027 governorship candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in Benue State, Herman Hembe, has kicked against the exclusion of the Tiv ethnic group from the presidential campaign council of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The All Progressives Congress had, at the weekend, released the complete membership list of its 2027 Presidential Campaign Council.
Our correspondent, who went through the list released by the Presidency on Saturday, discovered that only three people from Benue State made the list.
The successful members, who are mainly of the Idoma ethnic group, included former President of the Senate, Ameh Ebute; former Deputy Governor of the state, Steven Lawani; and Comrade Okpokwu Ogenyi.
According to a statement issued by the Hembe/Abba Gubernatorial Campaign Organisation and signed by Sir Peter Vande, which was made available to newsmen on Sunday night, the development was described as a deliberate political decision.
The statement read in part: “The recent release of the presidential campaign council list by the Tinubu APC has exposed a deliberate and calculated exclusion of the Tiv people from national reckoning.
“This is not an oversight. This is a message, and every Tiv person, every Benue son and daughter, must read it correctly. There will be no room for the Tiv if, God forbid, Tinubu is declared winner.”
The organisation said the Tiv people had contributed significantly to Nigeria’s unity and development and should not be treated as an afterthought in national political calculations.
“We are the fourth-largest tribe in Nigeria. We have shed blood for the unity of this country. We are, and have always been, a beautiful tribe that deserves to be courted diligently, not a bystander invited only when convenient.”
The statement, however, said the Tiv people should not be likened to someone seeking attention where none existed, stressing that the Tivs were one of Nigeria’s major ethnic groups and deserved to be deliberately courted in the nation’s political process.
It further argued that the exclusion of Tiv APC members from the presidential campaign council should concern every serious-minded Tiv person and questioned whether the Tiv people could expect adequate representation in government if President Bola Tinubu wins the 2027 election.
The organisation said its governorship candidate, Herman Hembe, remained committed to the welfare, security and political interests of the people of Benue, adding that fair representation should be a major consideration in determining political loyalty and electoral support.
Hembe used the opportunity to urge the people of Benue to consider the African Democratic Congress, whose presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, he described as a politician familiar with the concerns of the Tiv people.
The organisation said an Atiku/Amaechi administration would restore the Tiv and Benue people to what it described as their rightful position in Nigeria’s political affairs, while also claiming that Atiku had better plans for improving the lives of Nigerians.
Also, the All Progressives Congress in the state has decried the exclusion of the Tiv ethnic group from the party’s presidential campaign council.
Daniel Ihomun, the state publicity secretary of the Agada-led faction loyal to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume, who spoke to our correspondent on Monday, argued that the majority of members who made the list, especially those from the North-Central, were Muslims.
He said, “We, the party in the state, are not happy with the list released in the President Bola Tinubu Campaign Council because Tiv people are excluded from the list.
“There are so many Muslims on the list, especially in North-Central. The former Director-General of the Tinubu campaign in 2023 was not on the list. We Christians are not happy; we have been shortchanged.
“With the Tiv population in Nigeria, you cannot neglect us like that. We contributed to Tinubu’s victory in 2023; it’s like we have been neglected.
“With what has happened, the President is making the job (campaign) difficult for us.”
