Politics

Allegations against me over plot to destabilize Gov Alia’s govt laughable -Senator Moro

Published

1 year ago

February 20, 2024

By Chukwuka Kanu

The Senator representing Benue South Senatorial District Senator Abba Moro has described allegations leveled against him on plot to destabilize Governor Hyacinth Alia’s government as laughable and baseless.

This was contained in a statement issued and signed by the Benue Federal lawmaker on Monday night stating that:

“My attention has been drawn to a press release by the Chief Press Secretary to the governor of Benue State, Fr. Hyacinth Alia titled, THICK PLOTS TO DESTABILIZE ALIA’S GOVERNMENT UNCOVERED, wherein I was accused of knowing the root cause of insecurity in Benue State and discreetly cooking crooked plans to destabilize the state.

“The hastily concocted and attention-seeking press release should ordinarily not deserve a response from me but for the unsuspecting reading public that stands to be misinformed and misled if the records are not put into proper perspectives.

“It is absurd, uncharitable and laughable for the government of Benue State to accuse me of plots to destabilize Benue State after all my efforts to support the government of Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Alia. I want to believe that the governor did not see the content of the press release by his CPS.

“For the records, in his hotel room in Abuja and his house in Makurdi, I had severally advised the governor against dissolving the democratically elected councils in Benue State. I had advised that as a governor who’s a Reverend Father and who had sworn to uphold the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, he should be different from the ordinary politician, but he yielded to the pressure from the hawks around him who believed it was their turn to take over the local government areas.

“Dissolving democratically elected councils and setting up caretaker committees is against the grain of the constitution, is an aberration, illegal and alien to the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended).

“It was when all my entreaties fell on deaf ears that I did that which any responsible lawmaker representing the people would do. I moved a motion to draw the attention of Nigerians to the illegality in dissolving democratically elected councils in Benue State and other states in Nigeria and called on the senate to resolve to reverse the trend. And to serve as deterrent, I urged the senate to resolve to urge the Federal Government to withhold federation account allocations to the illegal entities called caretaker committees as not to do so would amount to encouraging illegality and unconstitutionality.

“To be so paranoid about my innocuous legislative action and bringing it up at every conversation smacks of a government that has lost focus and the machinery of government. My motion never contained security or insecurity elements.If the Benue State Government now suddenly acknowledges that her action in desolving democratically elected councils has security implications then the responsible thing to do is to have the courage to reverse herself.

“I also advised the governor of Benue State at that early stage to appoint a security adviser and convoke a security Stakeholders’ meeting to review the security situation in Benue State. This certainly cannot be coming from someone plotting to destabilize Benue State.

“The penultimate press conference held by the National Assembly caucus of Benue State was intended to address the security situation in Benue State after the meeting of the senate and security Stakeholders, calling on the federal and state governments to review their security architectures and confront the menace of insecurity frontally. It nothing to do with the illegal sacking of the democratically elected councils.

“I find the aggressive response by the Benue State Government to the harmless and patriotic outcry of the Benue State National Assembly caucus concerning the suffering of Benue people in the hands of herders as very unfortunate and smacks of irresponsibility and cluelessness. And to single out senator Abba Moro and Hon. Phillip Agbese for attacks smacks of a contrived vendetta against a people.

“In the press release by the National Assembly caucus on Wednesday, which I read, the security situation in Benue was never attributed to the dissolution of elected councils. I wonder how governor Alia is comfortably carrying on like nothing is happening, when Benue people are being killed and chased away from their ancestral homes without any form of resistance and not even a visit to the affected communities by the Chief Security Officer of the state, the governor to identify with the people or even a statement fromgovernment house. Not even to provide camps for displaced persons in Zone C let alone ask the Benue State Emergency Management Agency (BSEMA) to provide relief materials to the people.

“I represent NINE LGAs, out of 23, in the Senate and cannot keep quiet and pretend that all is well with my people when all is not well. My effort and that of other senators resulted in the marathon meeting that the Nigerian Senate had with Service Chiefs and many other relevant persons on Tuesday, 13th February, 2024. This is in addition to the personal efforts I have been making towards alleviating the pains of those directly affected by the mindless attacks.

“As representatives of the people, we feel their pains and share in their worries and fears and we will continue to speak for them not minding whose ox is gored. We are not discreetly cooking any crooked plans to destabilize the state, as maliciously alleged, but only interested in a state where her citizens sleep with their eyes closed and can move about freely without fear of attack.

“I urge the state government to sit up and carry out its constitutional responsibility of protecting lives and property of the people rather than chasing imaginary enemies. If the governor and his handlers are not bothered and worried about the happenings in the state, we are worried and will continue to speak out until the right things are done and our people begin to have peace in their homes.

“The general public and the good people of Benue State in particular are enjoined to disregard the watery and baseless statement as it’s merely a calculated attempt by the authors to shift blames, run away from their responsibilities, divert attention from their failures and instigate the public against the Benue State National Assembly Caucus and I.

“My humble advice to the governor, as always, is not to soil all his plates with palm oil as he may not find one to eat with when the need arises.

Politics

Fubara won’t be forgiven even if he joins us, says APC

Published

5 days ago

June 11, 2025

Admin

All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State said that the suspended governor, Siminalayi Fubara, has committed a mortal sin.

The party stated that even if he decided to ditch his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the APC, his sins would remain unforgiven.

Caretaker Committee chairman of the party in the state, Sir Tony Okocha made the position of the party known on Tuesday in Abuja while responding to questions regarding Fubara’s recent Sallah homage to President Bola Tinubu.

According to him, Fubara’s suspension and the declaration of a state of emergency were about his misdemeanour and had no political undertones.

He said; “If Fubara decides to join the APC, it has nothing to do with the state of emergency in Rivers state. His sins cannot be forgiven because he came to our party.

“You will jump into APC today and your sins are forgiven? That cannot be true. It won’t work that way. Then, it would have made APC as a dumping ground for people who commit misdemeanour and believe that by and large, we will come for reconciliation. No. It is not true. He has not spoken to me. He will enter the party through the door, not the window. Not only him, there are procedures for defection to another party, and if he claims to be a politician, he would know that all politics is local. He would try and defect in his ward. From there, it will come to us and my ward chairmen. I have asked, nobody brought any information about him entering APC”.

Asked whether he was worried about Fubara’s meeting with the president, Okocha said the APC had nothing to be worried about.

“How can I be worried that somebody visited my president? Don’t forget it was also the season of Sallah. Yesterday, I read somewhere that the former Governor of Ogun State, Chief Osoba, paid Sallah homage, and I don’t know whether you also saw the President in the company of Chief EN Wike. So we cannot be worried, we cannot gag the President to say you will see Mr A, you will not see Mr B. Perhaps, if I had made an application to see Mr President, I would have been there with my team”, he said.

Okocha also dismissed reports of a possible reconciliatory moves being embarked on by Gov. Fubara, saying there was nothing like that.

He said; “I am not a prophet of doom. I can only say to you with the benefit of knowledge that I am not aware of any reconciliatory move. No reconciliation is going on. Is it going to talk to Mr. President? But Mr. President has said go and make peace. There was no attempt at that. I am not aware of any reconciliatory moves by Fubara and his team”.

Politics

Wike vows PDP won’t sink as he hosts critical stakeholders

Published

6 days ago

June 10, 2025

Admin

Federal Capital Territory FCT minister, Nyesom Wike on Monday evening hosted critical stakeholders of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, under the aegis of “Concerned Stakeholders of the PDP”, saying the party will not die

While it was not immediately clear whether the Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, a member of the G-5 was invited to the meeting, his other colleagues – Ifeanyi Uguanyi (Enugu), Samuel Ortom (Benue) and Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia) were at the meeting.

Others at the meeting included the National Secretary of the PDP, Senator Samuel Anyanwu; former Senate Minority Leader, Philip Aduda; serving and former federal and state lawmakers, some zonal and state party executives, among a host of others.

Addressing the meeting, Wike said the concerned stakeholders are those who have always believed and who still believe in the survival of the party.

“All of you here are those who are committed to the survival of our party not just on TV talking or on the newspapers talking but committed to the party at the various levels.

“Today, this country is stabilized because of the activities of the G5 Governors. You may like us you may hate us. The truth of the matter is if G5 did not take the decision we took, this country would have been in crisis. It doesn’t matter who the beneficiary was but the right thing had to be done and we still stand by that decision.

“If the party had listened to what we said, we won’t have been where we are today and we have continued to sound it to the party, let the constitution of the party and of the country be respected. That, as an opposition party, we cannot continue to act with impunity. No opposition party acts with impunity. Ours is to continue to placate people and bring them together, not to say that they should go to hell.

“Let us not allow greed, let us not allow ego to kill our party”.

Wike who wondered why the fixation on the position of national secretary, said Governor Agbu Kefas of Taraba state was the chairman of the party in the state and that he did not resign before contesting for Governorship but only went back to resign after winning the election.

He said the Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Ibrahim Abdullahi, also contested for the Kebbi state governorship and that he retained his seat even after losing the election.

On his part, Dr Ortom noted that he who pays the piper dictates the tune. He challenged anyone in Nigeria to tell Nigerians whoever has contributed to the growth of the PDP more than Wike.

He said the president understands that the country cannot be a one-party state which was why he appointed Wike into a very sensitive position as the FCT minister.

“For whatever reason, PDP made a lot of mistakes and we are where we are today”, he said.

The meeting was still ongoing behind closed doors as of the time of filing this report and it is expected to come out with a communique.

Politics

Obi, Otti, and Nenadi lead Obidient Movement Rebirth in Abuja tomorrow

Published

6 days ago

June 9, 2025

ADMIN

…as veteran Journalist presents a book on Obi

The Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 election, Peter Obi, Governor Alex Otti of Abia state and the Acting National Chairman of the Labour Party, Senator Nenadi Usman are leading the team of eggheads in a rebirth event of the Obidient Movement in Abuja on Tuesday June 10, 2025.

A statement from the Peter Obi Media Reach, POMR, confirmed that their principal is expected to be the Special Guest at the occasion alongside Governor Otti and other top-notchers of the Obidient Movement.

A renowned legal intellectual, Prof Sam Amadi is expected to provoke conversation in a keynote speech on ‘the Inevitability of a New Nigeria’ with other notable speakers at the occasion including the National Coordinator of the Obidient Movement, Dr Yunusa Tanko.

The highlights of the event themed, ‘the Renaissance of the Obidient Movement’ will be the presentation of a book titled *Obi: The Political Change Agent,* authored by a veteran journalist, the former Group Political Editor of THISDAY Newspapers and Pioneer Deputy Managing Director of the New Telegraph Newspaper Mr Ike Abonyi. The foreword to the book is written by the impassioned legal mind and a fervent Obidient, Dele Farotomi.
An esteemed diplomat and former Campaign Manager of Obi-Datti Presidential Campaign Council Mr Oseloka.H. OBAZE is going to review the book
The ceremony, which is drawing Obidient Movement adherents from across the country, is being held at the Nigerian Air Force Centre in Kado area of Abuja.