No father! Suppression Is Not The Way of God
By Onjefu Okidu
A great appellation associated with Reverend Father Hyacinth Alia shortly after his emergence on the Benue political scene as a gubernatorial aspirant and candidate is: “Yes Father!”
Like lots of people with appellative nicknames, Fr. Alia never chose “Yes Father!,” he just came to accept the way the generality of the people of the state embrace and endorse him politically not just as a “man of God” but as “charismatic priest immersed in the ways of God.”
Undoubtedly, the appellation was a very strong public statement of overwhelming acceptance. For any good observer, the campaign engagement of the appellation significantly saw him made great strides in the 2023 elections.
Father Alia obviously was able to pull overwhelming popular vote with admiration due to the general sentiment across the state that there was the need to turn to God to find solutions to the myriads of problems bedeviling the state.
The state was (and still is) in a real mess, and actually needs repairing and rebuilding spiritually, materially, physically and psychologically. There were so many gaps – no salaries, no security, no capital investment, no ethnic unity, no sincerity, no honesty, no integrity, no truth etc., etc., etc.
To be fair, on his part, Father Alia responded at the time with every Godly responsibility. He demonstrated a deep spiritual response of a potential upright leader with worrying impulsiveness of a “man of God” in a hurry to put things right.
However, since he took over the reins of power in May, apart from the fact that the appellation has disappeared from the Benue and national airwaves, the most random Benue people are beginning to re-examine the banter they had used to assess him as a “man of God.”
One of the prominent areas of doubt is Fr. Alia’s management of ethnic identity. A very sad recurrent gap which all and sundry expected the “Reverend gentle man” to address is the impingement of ethnic identity on the state’s political leadership, and by extension the social capital.
For the avoidance of doubt, demographic, anthropological and sociological evidence clearly classify the Idoma as a major ethnic group in Benue state. In other words, they are strictly classified as a major ethnic stakeholder in the state as much as her Tiv ethnic counterpart, a reality that cannot be obliterated.
However, it is well known that little recognition has been accorded this reality by the “Man of God” since his assumption of office as Governor of Benue State.
This has manifested, by and large, by the Father’s heavily skewed cabinet and non-cabinet appointments, his discriminatory debut infrastructural initiatives, the turning of the Deputy Governor into a glorified messenger, and so on and so forth.
Actually, right now, the deprivation of the Idoma people of benefitting from a fair, just and balanced political power sharing arrangement in Benue State has glaringly been pushed beyond absurdity to atrocity.
The statistics on the father’s political appointments since the debut of his administration show that the representation of the Idoma people is almost zero percent.
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A disturbing trend in Benue politics at the moment is the systematic elimination of the Idomas from the political leadership of the state and by extension the country, in a bizarre, crude and naked manner.
To be sure, many have written and made media appearances to appeal to the Governor to address the situation but to no avail.
For the avoidance of doubt, Some truthful Idoma political leaders and elders were disheartened and very pained that Idoma people were being excluded from the governance of the state, and were urging the state Governor to do the right thing as a “Man of God.”
When you remove a people from the corridors of political power, you also remove them from the corridors of economic power. Since the First Republic, it has never been this bad. However, every now and again, the Reverend Father has continued to hype the cliché of repairing and rebuilding the state.
The hard-hitting question being asked by conscientious God-fearing Nigerians is: is Father Alia actually repairing and rebuilding Benue State by systematically excluding the Idoma people who are a vital majority stakeholder in the state from political leadership at home and abroad?
The correct answer to the question is left to the level of fertile imagination of every reader of this piece with good conscience and knowledge of Benue State.
While this might seem comprehensible, given the fact that anywhere human beings live there are wastes, it further highlights the gross deceptive nature of religion in the Nigerian social fabric.
To be sure, the appropriateness of the election of a clergy as Governor of Benue State at a time of heightened threats of unfairness, injustice and inequity can never be overemphasized. Considering where he was coming from, many truly anticipated Fr. Alia’s administration to be forthright in upholding justice, equity, fairness, inclusiveness and unity in the state.
Invariably, the complete opposite appears to be starkly gaining track and traction by day! Aside the God factor, democracy is not about vote-catching as has been argued in some quarters, it is a game of fairness and equity devoid of ethnic parochialism.
It reinforces brotherhood bonds and generally maintains balance. Good political leadership therefore produces solidarity across ethnic lines via true brotherhood, generosity and empathy.
Although, Governor Alia’s inner-circle members have continued to claim that all his actions are informed by sustained prayers to the Almighty God, it can be unequivocally argued that playing outright ethnic card and suppressing a people politically can never be an answer to a prayer to the Almighty God.
Clearly, Fr. Alia has manifested the most implacable variant of ethnic hate in Benue politics since the state’s creation in 1976.
Senators George Akume and Gabriel Suswam as Governors of the state tried their best to build some kind of bridges, even as non-clerics. Yes, they did. The expectation was that, as a man of God, Fr. Alia would improve upon them. Rather, he is seen pulling down the bridges with extreme venom and hate-bites.
Invariably, as the world’s mouth opens in condemnation of it, so also is the heavens. Not only the Idoma people, the generality of the Benue people should at this point in clear terms reverse the appellation and say: No Father, this is not the ways of the Almighty God!
Dr. Okidu writes from Ilorin. He can be reached through:
E-mail: [email protected]; Phone: +2348036636139
