Former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Michael Aondoakaa, SAN, has suggested that Benue State Governor Hyacinth Alia wouldn’t have become governor without the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, George Akume.
Speaking on the Arise Television’s Morning Show, Aondoakaa said that the political group led by Akume played a decisive role in Alia’s emergence as governor, stressing that the governor, a Catholic priest, did not possess an independent party structure prior to his election.
Aondoakaa emphasised the need for party discipline, loyalty and respect for decisions of the National Executive Committee, NEC, noting that the APC operates as an organised political structure nationwide.
According to him, Benue State cannot operate in isolation from established party processes, warning that internal disputes should not be allowed to jeopardise the party’s chances in future elections.
He said: “You see, we have to have something, gratitude, loyalty, discipline. The parties all over the world cherish discipline, and we have an organized APC throughout the country that relies extremely on discipline and loyalty. Where there’s a decision of NEC of the party, it does appear to everybody that that decision should be respected. And if you check across the country, that is exactly what happened.
“So Benue cannot be an isolation from other states. You see party politics, you are bound to have pressure groups within the party, but they should not escalate in the manner that it will distort the chances of the party in the forth coming election in our state.
“It will be state fight with a group that produced the governor, and the group that actually produced the current governor is Senator George Akume.
“The governor was a respected Catholic priest, so he had no party structure that we could have taken him to winning election or winning the party primary. So it is that group that produced the election, that had two senators, had nine House of Representatives members.”
Benue: Alia had no structure, won because of Akume – Aondoakaa
