A group under the aegis of the Idoma Proactive Diaspora Coalition (IPDC) has reported the governor of Benue State, Hyacinth Alia, to the international community over his supposed marginalisation of the Idoma ethnic group.
The group, in a statement signed by its President, Dr. Alechenu Amali, and made available to newsmen in Abuja, said the governor’s alleged marginalisation amounts to ethnic persecution. The IPDC stated that they have given up unless God or the international community intervenes.
According to the group, since Senator George Akume left office as governor of Benue State, all positions previously reserved for the Idoma have now gone to the Tiv ethnic group. The Tiv are the dominant ethnic group in Benue State, occupying 14 local government areas, while the Idoma and Igede ethnic groups occupy the remaining nine local government areas of the central Nigerian state.
The IPDC decried that despite the massive votes given to Alia, a Catholic priest, by the Idoma people of southern Benue, the governor has given the minority ethnic groups the worst treatment ever meted to them.
“Unfortunately, Father Alia was voted massively by the Idoma people, thinking that as a clergyman he would be fair to the minority, but he has even become worse,” Amali said, per the statement. “The Idoma people have now given up and can only go back to God or cry to the International Community.”
According to the statement, Governor Alia has allegedly marginalised the Idoma people in terms of appointments and projects, as all major appointments and projects have allegedly gone to the Tiv ethnic group. The group also claimed that all contracts for the construction of rural roads in the state have been awarded only in Tiv territories.
Dr. Amali stated that choice offices like the Secretary to the Benue State Government, Commissioner of Works, Commissioner of Education, Commissioner of Health and Human Services, and Special Adviser to the Governor on Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs are occupied by people of Tiv extraction. He also mentioned that the Benue Investment and Property Company (BIPC), Benue Internal Revenue Service (BIRS), Local Government Service Commission, Benue State Urban Development Board, Benue State University Teaching Hospital, Vice-Chancellor of Benue State University (BSU), Benue State Examination Board, Benue Links Nigerian Limited, Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project (RAAMP), and other “juicy offices” are occupied by Tiv people under the Alia administration.
The group further alleged that Governor Alia was vigorously pursuing the ethnic persecution of Idoma people with the supposed intention of relegating the Idoma people to an unimportant or powerless position in the state.
The group also explained that Dr. Nathaniel Oche, who was appointed as Rector of the Benue State Polytechnic, Ugbokolo, for a five-year tenure by the immediate past administration of Samuel Ortom, was removed by Governor Alia less than six months into his tenure. A Tiv man, Dr. Emmanuel Barki, has been appointed as Rector in an acting capacity, whereas Tiv people have already been appointed in substantive capacities in state institutions where a Tiv man was sacked.
Dr. Amali questioned why the governor has allowed a Tiv man to continue in an acting capacity as Rector where an Idoma man was removed within six months in office, but the same governor was quick to appoint a Tiv man in a substantive capacity where a Tiv man was sacked.
