Akume Knew Better | He Was the Last Governor Who Understood What “Benue” Means
TIV @50 NOT BENUE— AN IDOMA SON’S UNFILTERED TRUTH
#SonOfAbakwu
Let me say what many are afraid to say out loud: the celebration they are calling Benue @50 is a lie dressed in golden jubilee colours. It is not Benue @50. It is Tiv @50. And until the Idoma people of Zone C can look at this state and see themselves fully reflected in its leadership, its appointments, and its development, we will not pretend otherwise.
I watched the ceremonies. I heard the speeches. I saw the fanfare, the invited dignitaries, the praise songs for a governor who comes from the same ethnic stock that has monopolised the Government House in Makurdi since this state drew its first breath on February 3, 1976. And my heart did not rejoice. My heart broke.
Fifty Years. Zero Idoma Governors. Tell Me — What Exactly Are We Celebrating?
Fifty years after Benue State was carved out of the old Benue-Plateau State by General Murtala Mohammed’s military administration, not a single Idoma person has ever been elected governor of Benue State. Not one. In fifty years. Let that land.
In the civilian era, every governor has come from Tiv-speaking areas. Aper Aku (1979–1983) from Ushongo. Rev. Fr. Moses Adasu (1992–1993) from Konshisha. Then, since the return to democracy in 1999: George Akume, Gabriel Suswam, Samuel Ortom, and now Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Iormem Alia — all Tiv, all from Zones A and B, without interruption, without rotation, without conscience.
The governorship seat has always rotated between Benue North East and Benue North West, predominantly occupied by the Tiv. Never — not once in fifty years — has it touched Zone C.
They want us to come out with drums and dance? For what? To celebrate our own exclusion?
The Structure of the Injustice — Numbers Used as a Weapon
Benue is divided into 3 senatorial districts and 23 local government areas — 14 for the Tiv, 7 for the Idoma, and 2 for the Igede. This is the demographic reality. And for fifty years, this numerical advantage has been weaponised, not as a feature of democracy, but as a deliberate instrument to keep Zone C permanently locked out of the highest office.
Some voices from Zones A and B will tell you: “Democracy is a game of numbers, and the majority has its way.” What they are really saying is this: we have the numbers, so the governorship belongs to us in perpetuity — and Zone C should be grateful for the deputy governorship crumbs we throw their way.
That is not democracy. That is domination given a democratic name.
Akume Knew Better — He Was the Last Governor Who Understood What “Benue” Means
I will say what needs to be said about Senator George Akume. Whatever political disagreements men may have with him, Akume as governor (1999–2007) understood that Benue State is not a Tiv state — it is a Benue state. Traditionally, once the Tiv took the governorship seat and the speaker, the Idoma would take the deputy governorship, the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), and the deputy speaker. That unwritten arrangement — imperfect as it was — at least acknowledged that Zone C existed and deserved a seat at the table.
But even that minimal concession has been systematically dismantled. During the second term of Samuel Ortom, he brought in a Tiv person to displace an Idoma person from the position of Secretary to the State Government — a trend the current administration has continued. They are not just keeping us from the top — they are now peeling away even the secondary positions that were the only proof we belonged to this state.
Under Akume, an Idoma man could at least say: I am Deputy Governor. I am SSG. I am part of this government. Today, even those shadows are being erased. And they want us to celebrate?
The Idoma People Have Been the Kingmakers — Rewarded With Nothing
Here is the bitter irony that every honest person in Benue State knows but too few will say: from 1999 to date, the Idoma people of Benue State have remained the deciding factor in contentious governorship elections. Each time they played that role, they were promised power in return. But once it was time to actualise the promise, there was never any political will to pull it through.
Reports and available data show that but for the support of Zone C, the APC would have lost the 2023 governorship election. Yet no promises of power rotation were even made to the Idoma before that election. They took our votes, gave us nothing, moved into Government House, and are now throwing a golden jubilee party — and expecting us to attend with smiles.
We made them governors. They made us spectators. And now they want us to clap.
What Fifty Years Has Given Zone C: Roads Not Built, Communities Neglected, People Abandoned
The Benue @50 celebrations speak of development, of progress, of transformation. Let those who celebrate come to Agatu. Let them come to Apa, to Ohimini, to Ogbadibo, to the roads connecting Otukpo to the rest of this state they call ours. Across Otukpo, Ogbadibo, Apa, Agatu, Ado, Ohimini, Okpokwu, Obi and Oju local government areas, complaints of exclusion have grown louder about lopsided appointments, lopsided employment, and lopsided development.
Retired military officer and elder statesman Gen. Geoffrey Ejiga (rtd) put it plainly: “Benue with all its potentials remained the least developed state in Nigeria. The unjust deprivation of the Idoma people from leadership is bound to create insecurity in the state, as very soon the Idoma youths will revolt, creating a massive problem.”
That warning was given before 2023. The situation has not improved. And yet — Benue @50. Benue @50, they say. Which Benue? The Benue of Makurdi and Gboko? Or the Benue of Otukpo and Agatu too?
Even Fair-Minded Tiv Elders Have Said: Give Idoma the Governor
This is not a manufactured grievance. This is not the complaint of a sore loser. Even before his death, elder statesman Wantaregh Paul Unongo — a Tiv man and one of the most respected voices in Benue’s history — stressed the need for the emergence of an Idoma governor, saying it would foster unity and stronger ties among the three senatorial districts.
Air Vice Marshal Monday Morgan (rtd), an Idoma son and initiator of the Benue Rebirth Movement, stated the plain historical record without emotion: “Benue State was created 46 years ago and has had five civilian governors. All were Tiv.”
All of them. Every single one. And yet we are told to find ourselves in this jubilee.
It Cannot, and Must Not, Be Called Benue @50
A state at 50 is a state where every community can say: we have been here, we have contributed, and we have been seen. The Idoma people built this state with our sweat, our votes, our peace, and our patience. We fought for the creation of Benue State alongside our Tiv brothers. Our founding fathers sat in those rooms and negotiated for this entity to exist. We did not join Benue State to become permanent second-class citizens.
The Idoma quest for the governorship has become more than a political ambition — it is a question of belonging, equity, and trust in the Benue project. The agitation is no longer fading. It is growing louder.
Until an Idoma person sits in that Government House in Makurdi as governor — not as deputy, not as SSG, not as a consolation appointment — until that day comes, this state has not earned the right to call any celebration a Benue celebration. Until Zone C is restored to every position it held and deserved under the best days of this state’s governance, we are not celebrating fifty years of Benue.
We are being asked to celebrate fifty years of our own marginalisation.
Call it what it is: Tiv @50.
And when Benue is finally ready to be Benue for all its people — all three zones, all its tribes, all its communities — then, and only then, will we celebrate together.
The Idoma people are not against the Tiv. We are against injustice. And we will not be silent about it.
