In Benue state for instance, Governor Gabriel Suswam claimed that his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) won it all. Though cases of ballot paper stuffing, ballot boxes snatching, general apathy, poor turn out and violence were reported in the state’s 23 local councils, Suswam wants us to believe all was well and that his party swept the poll conducted on 29^th December 2007. Benue state electoral chairman who was a military officer equally described the ballot and as fair; maybe he copied the Iwu-style of not admitting guilt.

This is a state that has at least two formidable opposition parties, AC and ANPP. Opposition parties under the Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) on 31^st December 2007 came out and publicly declared that Suswam’s government did not uphold the rule of law which President Umar Yar’adua preaches.

No opposition party could clinch even one local council in the state. Well done Governor Suswam!

But what really pissed one off is the continuous and systematic exploitation of the poor Benue people. Suswam’s government placed a half page advertisement in the Daily Trust (Thursday, January 3 2008, page 34) announcing conditions for the release and operation of the township transport scheme. The information was signed by Terna Ahua who gave his designation as permanent secretary, ministry of Finance.

He explained that the state government had procured a large number of taxis for allocation to interested individuals and they should therefore, apply. What was quite baffling was the condition that each applicant must pay ‘‘a non refundable application fee of N5,000’’.

Clearly, this is a move towards fleecing the numerous hapless applicants in the state. Benue state is purely an agrarian place. You are either a farmer or remain unemployed. Very little segment of the population is doing the white collar job. If you are a good fisherman, you try your luck in the bed of the Benue River. If the water scares you, the open fields are there for you to till. But many youths who cannot withstand the pains of the fields till have left the villages for the towns expecting that manna will definitely fall.

And here, the manna falls. Taxis! But one might ask, is Suswam a product of taxi business? Did he ride taxi to be that which he is today? There are many many unemployed youths in that state—many of them have resorted to doing drugs, many others have taken up praise-singing for politicians. Yet others have become cannon fodders for political battles. Remember the April poll?

Now, if this large number of the unemployed would apply, say 500,000, just do the arithmetic and see how much Mr. Ahua would scoop up. They claim the project is to help the people. But Mr. Suswam, tell me, how many average persons in that state can cough up N5,000 to go as non-refundable fee? This is not to say that these cabs are to be leased only after payment of a ‘‘mandatory deposit of N1 million after which monthly repayment will follow’’. No average Beneue person can afford this kind of money. At the end, government officials will go round, acquire these vehicles and still get praise-singers to count it as heroic and messianic achievements of the Suswam’s government.

Only Suswam and his people know how much each of the cabs costs. But the concern is why would Suswam reintroduce the same township taxi scheme that Benue Links company tried but failed in the 1990’s? Benue Links had numerous taxis in Makurdi and in the major towns of the state but corruption did not allow it to work.

Besides, is lack of cabs really the problem of a people who are mostly rural dwellers? Even in Makurdi, the state capital, most of the residents prefer riding motorcycles. The previous administration forced the civil servants to willy-nilly buy motorcycles. Teachers lamented bitterly that the money deducted from their salaries was higher than the actual cost of the motorcycles in the open market; but who gave a hoot?

The teachers were at the end punished for daring to be forward! They were denied a three-month salary for going on strike. All pleas to give these teachers what was  theirs fell on deaf ears till Akume went into another battle to ‘‘borrow a Senatorial seat’’ from where the seat was zoned to.

But we would not want Suswam to go the Ibori way. Once upon a time, an Ibori was convicted by an Abuja Magistrate’s court. Then someone raised an alarm that the same Ibori had become governor. But the court ruled otherwise. Yet the convicted Ibori could not be traced even after combing all the villages and towns of the Niger area.

Once upon a time, a Suswam was named in some corrupt deals in the National Assembly by a president and commander in chief of the armed forces. Yet there is a governor that goes by the name Suswam. Someone who did not want the Suswam governor to be linked to the corrupt Suswam once said that the Suswam governor is a man of honour who is looking up to making history in the union. He said the Suswam governor will win a second term and go for the presidency of Nigeria.

This is not a bad dream indeed. Our advice simply is while he pursues his dream, we would not want him to dip his hand into that which is of the people. He should nurse his ambitions using purely his personal resources. That is why we advise he should not go the way of Ibori. Ibori after being governor for two terms was nabbed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and he is now fettered like a common criminal. This has led to strong suspicion that this Ibori might have connection with the convicted Ibori.

Though the council ballot was described as mere selection, Governor Suswam claims that N200 million was expended—he did not say how that was spent. If there was no voting in most places, why should that kind of money be pronounced as electoral expenses?

Suswam has used the state’s resources repeatedly jetting out of the country in this short time he has been governor in the name of luring investors. At the end, we see the foreign investment in form of his wife’s pet project. Where did she get the money? No one knows.

There is no whiff of decency in all this! If this kind of thing continues, we are afraid, Suswam might toe Ibori’s line. Benue people should rise up and block acts that are inimical to their progress.

Atonko wrote from Utako, Abuja (benaton2000@yahoo.com)

Robot  # 1 | 02.02.2008 12:44

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