Tinubu Receives Petition Asking To Disqualify Benue State Ministerial Nominee

A group under the umbrella of Benue Youth Frontiers For Democracy has petition the president to withdraw the nomination of Prof. Joseph Utsev as ministerial nominee from Benue state.

The petition signed by the president of the group Comrade Daniel Edoache Atayi and co-signed by Comrade Samson Akombo, Vice President , Comrade Aer Gabriel PRO, appealed to the President , Senate under the Leadership of Senator Godswill, His Excellency, Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Alia and the National Leadership of the All Progressive Congress- APC, to follow the path of patriotism, fairness, equity, and the democratic antecedents recorded by predecessors of same Offices, to ensure that the Ministerial slot allocated to Benue State is given to the Benue South.

The petition reads;

We wish to draw your attention to a serious desecration and breach of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which you all swore to uphold and abide by, during your inauguration as Senators of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, it is paramount to mention specifically that the ministerial nomination from Benue – a multi Ethnic State, does not reflect Federal Character, neither expresses concern nor regard for fairness, equity, political inclusiveness and/or balance of political power.

Permit us to refer you to Section 14, Subsection 3 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic Nigeria as amended, which states emphatically that:

“The composition of the Government of the Federation or any of its Agencies and the conduct of its affairs shall be carried out in such a manner as to reflect the Federal Characters of Nigeria and the need to promote National Unity, and also to command National Loyalty, thereby
ensuring that there shall be no PREDOMINANCE of Persons from a few State or from a few ETHNIC or other sectional groups in that Government or in any of its agencies.

May we bring to your notice that the composition of the Government of Benue State presently, i.e. the Seat of the Governor, the Secretary to the Government of the State (SSG), the Chief of Staff to the Governor, The Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Chief Judge of the State, Head of key Ministries, Department and Agencies of Government etc all comes from
the Tiv Speaking area (Zone A & B) of the State while other ethnic groups such as the Idoma’s, Igede’s, Ufia’s, Etilo’s etc. with little numerical strength and often refers to as Minority Tribes, are left with deputies position and treated as second class Citizens.

At the Federal level, since the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator George Akume who happens to come from the Tiv Ethnic group that has already dominated and occupied all critical political positions at the State Government level, every Citizen of Benue State were thinking and hopeful that the Ministerial Slot/Nominee for Benue State will certainly come from the Idoma/Igede axis otherwise known as Benue South (Zone C) in the interest of fairness, equity, promotion of unity, inclusiveness and for the sake of balance/even distribution of political powers!

We were all shocked and surprise to see and know during the unveiling of the ministerial Nominees’ list by the Senate President at the National Assembly, that the Benue Ministerial Nominee, Prof. Joseph Utsev still came from the Tiv ethnic group in the State even while there are a lot of qualified Professionals, Technocrats, loyal and hardworking party- APC Men and Women from the Idoma/Igede ethnic group that suite and merit such position.

We are bothered and compel to ask at this point that, does appointing a Secretary to the Federal Government (SGF) and a cabinet Minister, all from same ETHNIC group (TIV) from a multi-Ethnic State like Benue into the President Tinubu led Federal Government (Cabinet) not amount to breach or violation of S.14, S.s 3 of the Nigeria’s Constitution?

Does such act alone not amount to promotion of inequality, unfairness, injustice and encourages political marginalization, shortchanging and suffocation of other ethnic groups in Benue State?

And if such political marginalization, injustice and domination is allowed to stand, then, what will be the fate and future of the Minority Ethnic Groups, particularly, the Idoma People of Nigeria?

As a matter of fact, Benue South Senatorial district, which has several dialects, namely- the Idoma, Igede, Ufia, Eza, Ezis, Utonkon etc, and was hitherto, a strong hold of the PDP due to the firm structure of Leaders such as Senator David Mark and Comrade Senator Abba Moro, unexpectedly gave an unimaginable massive votes to the All Progressive Congress, (APC) during the Presidential/NASS election – a situation that led to APC securing 3 House of Representatives Seats out of the 4 Federal Constituency Seats in Benue South, but narrowly lost the Senatorial Seat to the then incumbent PDP Senator, Abba Moro.

We are also very much aware that the Benue South Senatorial District,
which comprises of Nine (9) larger Local Government Areas’ have suffered much Political marginalization, domination and oppression in the hands of the Tiv speaking Two Senatorial Zones with Seven Local Government Areas each, and we urge you to address this injustice and bring succour to the Benue South Senatorial Zone by ceding the Benue Ministerial slot to them in order to calm fraying nerves in the zone!

The fact being that since the creation of the State in 1976 from BenuePlateau, the Zone C People, despite their competence, reputable educational background and outstanding successes in both the private and public sectors and all facets of life, have been excluded from the Seat of Governor, as they have never produced the Governor of the State right from the military regimes down to this democratic era.

Aside the number One Seat of the State Government, administratively, they are always placed at second fiddle positions.

Even with the high number of renowned Professors and experts they had, they have never been appointed as Vice Chancellor of Benue State University.

As Youth Group in the defence and promotion of democracy, we appeal to the Senate under the Leadership of the Senate President, Senator Godswill, His Excellency, Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Alia and the National Leadership of the All Progressive Congress- APC, to follow the path of patriotism, fairness, equity, and the democratic antecedents recorded by predecessors of same Offices, to ensure that the Ministerial slot allocated to Benue State is given to the Benue South people otherwise known as the Zone C Senatorial District of the State.

We acknowledge that democracy in the Third World Countries, no longer enforce the principle of ‘majority takes it all’ again. It is now all about enforcement of human rights, fairness, equity, justice, the rule of law and the will of the people.