With the ongoing political turmoil in Benue State, many aggrieved members of All Progressives Congress (APC) in Benue have allowed their hatred for the Executive Governor of Benue State, Rev. Fr. Dr. Hyacinth Iormem Alia to cloud their judgement.
It is pellucid that Alia has made momentous impact on the good people of Benue State since he was sworn-in as governor. Unfortunately, when his critics within APC, PDP and other parties appear on national TV or other media platforms, they fail to acknowledge his achievements so far before highlighting areas of improvement or concern. They criticize Alia as if he has done nothing impactful.
This is what hypocrisy does. Once someone's personal interest is not taken into cognizance, the person sees nothing good in the leader that fails to do so.
Most of those criticizing Alia is as a result of their personal interests and not the collective interest of the governed. Assuming their interests were fully taken into cognizance by Alia, regardless of how he governs Benue State, he would be applauded as the best governor in their eyes. This is the level of hypocrisy in Benue politics and Nigeria at large.
I have refused to be a part of this hypocrisy. It is not a secret that I was one of the ardent critics of the former governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom during his administration. I abhorred his leadership methodology so much but still commended him in certain areas he made potent impact.
When Ortom defected from APC to PDP on July 25, 2018, some forces in Benue State and Abuja turned against him. As a result, the IGP at that time, ordered the withdrawal of Police men from all IDP camps in Benue State. I supported Ortom for criticizing Buhari and I wrote an article on August 2, 2018 against that move and criticized Buhari as well for being insensitive to the plight of those in IDP camps.
When Buhari brought his RUGA agenda, Ortom was against it and I wrote an article on July 2, 2019 against Buhari and commended Ortom for standing against RUGA.
I also commended Ortom when he renovated the School of Nursing in Makurdi and supported some law students from Benue State University in law school amongst others. It was the overall assessment of his performance after 4 years and eventually after 8 years that scored him very low.
Some APC members who criticized Ortom when he was the governor of Benue State on the platform of PDP without commending him in the areas he tried are today supporting Ortom and fraternizing with him as a result of their hatred for Alia when he has done nothing different from who he was as governor. This shows that their hatred for Ortom when he was governor was not for the collective interest of the good people of Benue State but their selfish interests.
Until the people of Benue State will stop the politics of hypocrisy, Benue State will continue to face insurmountable challenges on its trajectory to greatness.
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