A Group under the auspices of Zone A Political Assembly, ZAPA, has blasted the secretary to the Federal Government, Senator George Akume, over his remarks on Governor Hyacinth Alia, former governor Gabriel Torwua Suswam, Senator Barnabas Gemade at the burial of Late Paul Unongo in Jato- Aka, Kwande Local Government Area of Benue State. In a press conference in Makurdi, on Monday, the president of the Association, Frank Fanen Mondo, described the SGF conduct as vexatious that greatly denigrated his personality based on the office he is currently occupying. “We are compelled to address the Nigerian people through this press conference , albeit for the umpteenth time on this vexatious issue of Sen. George Akume, former governor of Benue state who currently occupies the coverted office of the secretary to the government of the federation of Nigeria whose conducts, attitude and character has greatly denigrated his personality and political personage, the office he occupies and most profoundly portrayed the government he represents in bad light.This is because His Excellency Senator George Akume who after passing out of school, has worked amongst the elite of the society for over fifty years, first as a civil servant, then as governor, senator, minister of the federal republic and now SGF, who should be a statesman whose conduct in both public and private life should be exemplary, has the penchant for always indulging in heavy alcoholic bouts to gain Dutch Courage and spew out insults on illustrious sons of Benue, particularly those from the North East Senatorial district of the state popularly referred to as Zone “A”. “For over two decades, Sen. Akume has lined up prominent sons of Benue Zone “A” and rained unimaginable insults on them without provocation at mostly public places and on communication platforms. Sen. Akume had at various times called the revered Tiv monarch, Prof. James Iorzua Ayatse unprintable names, same to Sen. Gabriel Torwua Suswam, a former governor of the state. Akume has also at every available opportunity rained insults on elder statesman and former works and housing secretary to the federal government, Sen. Barnabas Gemade OFR, Sen. Joseph Akaagerger, Rtd. Col. Benjamin Aboho(late) Amb. James Gbasha etc., all sons of Zone “A “. “To crown his uncivilized and rascally behavior of always resorting to gutter language, Akume has not spared the sitting governor of Benue state, His Excellency, Most Rev. Dr. Hyacinth Alia who he has severally demeaned. Indeed,the list of illustrious sons of Benue who have been the target of Akume ‘s insults and attacks is endless. “What we have observed over the years mistakenly as a funny past time influenced by alcohol has crossed over to a well orchestrated plan to destroy Zone “A”. “The game plan is to attack and weaken the best that Zone “A” has got to offer in terms of personalities and human capital, which is why the likes of Suswam, Alia, Gemade and all influential sons of Zone “A” are marked by Akume for annihilation. The game plan also involves deliberately promoting only those from Zone “A” who are Akumes blind worshipers and who for a plate of porridge, can even kill their fellow Zone “A” brother. These carefully selected stooges are permanently tied to Akumes political apron strings. “The recent outing of Sen. Akume at the burial of the late Wantaregh Paul Iorpuu Unongo, a former minister of steel development in Nigeria ( which video clips we played at the beginning of this event) where he broke protocol by lying that he was representing the president of Nigeria, His Excellency, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu but never said anything the president directed him to say but rather used the opportunity to descend on Senators Akaagerger, Gemade and Suswam, calling them unprintable names is a good example of Akume ‘s diatribe on Zone “A”.

“In as much as we don’t want people misinterpreting our actions as a “pull him down” activity (as the gullible are bound to say anyway) we want Nigerians to note certain very salient points about Akume who has today, chosen to be a Lord desiring worship from everyone; “Untill Senator Gemade single handedly made him governor in1999, Akume was a nobody, living on his meager pensions as a retired civil servant of Benue state. He had no resources or connections outside Sen. Gemade to prosecute a gubernatorial project. “If Sen. Gemade who was calling the political shots in Benue state at that time decided to run for governor of Benue state in 1999, or if he decided that his kinsman, Rev. Fr. Moses Adasu whose tenure was truncated by the military should complete it as was done in Taraba and Kogi states, nobody would stop him but it was his consideration that the Governorship should go to Jemngbagh in honour of the late J S Tarka. To this, Gemade had made Akume the governorship candidate of the now rested Congress for National Consensus, a party that Gemade was its national chairman in 1997 before it was disbanded as a result of the death of General Sani Abacha, Nigeria’s erstwhile head of state. “It is shocking, dear Nigerians, to hear Sen. Akume in a desperate tone to spite, refer to Chief Gemade a man who is not less than ten years older than Akume as “anmbayev” ( children) saying, “…Gemade did not make me governor).But Benue people and indeed Nigerians are aware that as one of the founders of the PDP in 1998 and with enormous powers to decide who flies the party’s gubernatorial flag in the state, Gemade made Akume the governorship candidate of the PDP against the popular choice of Mike Mku who was preferred by party men. But for Sen. Gemade’s enormous goodwill amongst Benue people, there is no way Akume would be governor of Benue State in 1999. We challenge Sen. Akume to mention just one political ally in each of the 23 Local governments in Benue state that he knew before 1998.But today, Akume sees himself as having fallen from the skies with a sign on his forehead which read, ‘O BENUE PEOPLE, THIS IS YOUR KING AND YOU MUST BOW AND WORSHIP HIM FOREVER “. Too bad. “God, and the people of Benue State have been so good to Akume. Since 1999 when Gemade made him governor, Akume has never been out of government, most of these years, at the central government. We expect Akume s life to be characterized by thanksgiving to God and humility to the people. But on the contrary, what we see is a man playing God and subjecting all men, particularly those from Benue Zone “A” to his hosanna choristers. “However, the tragedy of Sen. Akume s public life is that, apart from the Federal Polytechnic Adikpo which Gemade fought for, which Akume forcefully removed from Adikpo to Annune, there is no federal presence even in his Jemngbagh intermediate area. “Before he became governor, Akume could not boast of a single investment anywhere. After over twenty years of been in government the story remains the same. Rather, Akume deludes in the false belief that he is the one installing governors in the state. And because of this false belief, he insists on using every governor after him to gain access to the public till. Anyone that refused incurred his wrath and he uses false propaganda to pitch the people against them by magnifying their shortcomings; he did it to Suswam in his second year as governor, did same to Ortom in his fourth year and is doing some to Alia now. The crime of Suswam, Gemade and other well meaning leaders in the state is that they have refused to support him to destabilize Fr. Alia. “When Akume calls somebody a thief, the world finds it funny because it sounds much like the pot calling the kettle black. This is a man who as governor, withdrew a whooping #2.7bn local government funds when he had less than forty eight hours to leave office, precisely on the 27th May 2007.

In a leaked telephone conversation, His Excellency Samuel Ortom also revealed that he had personally used huge sums of money to close cases of Akume s financial misdeeds. Akume has not denied this. “It is also on record that, when Nuhu Ribadu, then EFCC chairman arrested Emmanuel Udende, the commissioner for local government at that time who facilitated some illicit money withdrawal and he fingered Akume, it was Rt. Hon. Terngu Tsegba and Chief Mrs. Mzamber Farida Waziri that stood surety for Saint Akume. This was why an angry Samuel Ortom recently reminded him of this, warning Akume to stop blacklisting people as he Akume is too corrupt to call another person corrupt. “Maybe, as we step into reality, Sen. Akume should come out and tell the people of Kwande, who was responsible for sending militia men to their Local Government in 2003 and 2004. Coordinated by his hatchet men, the militia killed many Kwande people and destroyed property worth billions of naira. “To ensure they humiliated Kwande people, the militia on the directives of their sponsor, broke into the tomb of the late Unongo Kwaghngise, father of Wantaregh Paul Iorpuu Unongo (now late), exhumed his body which is buried for decades and fed it to the dogs “Akume may as well tell Benue people the truth about how Benue cement was acquired by Dangote and what was his role and interest. “Benue people will also like to know how much was sunk into state owned companies in the name of reactivating them such as, the Taraku Oil company, the Otukpo burnt bricks company, the Agro Millers etc where billions of naira of our common patrimony were sunk by his administration with nothing to show for. “By far, what Akume need to use to clear his name before Benue people is the Annune Fruits and Vegetable company. This is a company in Akume ‘s hometown, initiated and built by his administration. “The records of everything, from procurement of site, erecting of structures and importation of machinery as reflecting in the budget of the state including disbursements are there. So let Saint Akume tell us, why has the company not taken off? “We want Sen. Dr. George Akume to know that, much as he loves to be called and worshipped as leader, he should know that leadership comes with responsibilities; When you have stayed in the senate for twelve (12) years without moving a motion for the establishment of even a “nursery” school but you use ministerial power to forcefully remove the Federal Polytechnic that Sen. Gemade lobbied to establish for Kwande people and take it to your home town, that’s not good leadership. “Similarly, if you have stayed in both the legislative and executive arms of the federal government for over seventeen (17) years and have the worst roads in your constituency, no boreholes and no electricity or any federal presence, that’s certainly very poor leadership. “If you served as the chairman, Senate committee on the army and young aspiring men and women from your constituency who were qualified by every standard could not be enlisted, it’s poor leadership. “When you claim to be a leader and you cannot unite and carry your followers along, rather all you do is promote narrow, selfish considerations such that even as a major national player, only your wife if good enough to occupy the seat in the Nation assembly for your people, that’s bad leadership. “When you have three governors who have ruled and are ruling the state after you and you are at draggers drawn with each, and also fighting every other leader in the state, that’s surely not good leadership. “When you resort to Dutch courage before attending public occasions just to use gutter language on the people you call yourself their leader, that’s not good leadership. “When you claim to make every other person what they are but deny that no person contributed to what you are, that’s bad leadership. “You must know that the younger ones are observing you and the example you show will not build a good future.

“We want Nigerians to know that if the Zone “A” people that Akume has fought all his life to destroy should decide to fight back, Benue would go up in flames. This is because Zone “A” constitutes more than 40% of the total population of the state. “It is Zone “A” leaders like Aper Aku and Moses Adasu (both of blessed memories) as well as Gabriel Suswam and now Hyacinth Alia that have contributed 70% of what Benue is today. It is also Zone “A” sons that have written Benue’s name boldly on the history map of Nigeria ( pioneering in almost all fields of human endeavor in the state). “Let it also be know to all Nigerians that Akume has promoted disunity in Benue state since he was governor. He has courted anarchy by his constant and sustained attacks on Zone “A” and it’s people. Now as it stands, Zone “A” people have no choice but to defend their own and also defend the unity of Benue state. “We are aware of clandestine moves to use federal might to cow and persecute some of our illustrious sons, but we are not deterred. Like Shakespeare said in his epic, Julius Caesar, “… cowards die many times before their deaths, the villain never tastes of death but once…”. We therefore call on the president and Commander in chief of Nigeria s armed forces, His Excellency, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu to not allow Sen. Akume to use his government to fight local and personal battles as Benue people solidly support his administration. “The supreme task of Zone “A” people has always been to develop Benue state as can be seen in the performance of our sons that have ruled the state as governors. That does not in any way make us weaklings. Mr. Mondo, maintained that Now that the seeds of discord, hate and disunity sown by Akume by his constant jabs and insults thrown at Zone “A” and Benue sons as well as his well calculated efforts at annihilating Zone “A” have sprouted, Nigerians should hold Akume responsible if Benue state is consumed in strife. he added