GOVERNOR ALIA’S SHAMEFUL PARADE OF LIES AT ASO ROCK BY JEROME ZOHO

Benue State Governor, Hyacinth Alia’s recent appearance at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, will go down as one of the most embarrassing exercises in political deception ever witnessed from a sitting governor in the country. Rather than present an honest account of his stewardship, the governor chose to bombard Nigerians with a conflation of falsehoods, half-truths, exaggerations and outright propaganda in a desperate attempt to disguise failure as achievement.

The governor’s claim that his administration has commissioned over 500 kilometres of roads in three years is a monumental falsehood. It is a claim so outrageous that it insults the intelligence of every Benue person. Benue people travel daily on collapsing roads and abandoned project sites. They know that the governor’s 500-kilometre claim exists only in his imagination and in the propaganda machinery that sustains his administration.

Equally dishonest was his attempt to claim ownership of the Lucy Zaiyol Alluor Community ICT Centre in Vandeikya. The facility was established by the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) in collaboration with the Renewed Hope Initiative, not by the Benue State Government. It takes a special level of desperation for a governor to begin taking credit for projects executed by federal agencies simply because he has run out of achievements to showcase.

Governor Alia’s selective sympathy also exposed the disturbing priorities of his administration. While he publicly mourned the killing of a Miyetti Allah leader in Benue State, he remained conspicuously silent on the recent murder of a former Secretary to the Benue State Government and this week’s mindless killing of a professor of History at the state-owned university, Makurdi, Professor Gabriel Nyityo. Such double standards reveal a government that has repeatedly failed to demonstrate equal concern for all victims of violence.

Most shocking, however, was the governor’s audacious claim that insecurity has been defeated in Benue State. This statement is not only false; it is cruel. It is an insult to grieving families who have buried loved ones. It is an insult to thousands of displaced people living in misery. It is an insult to communities that remain under the occupation of armed terrorists. While Governor Alia was celebrating imaginary victories in Abuja, Benue people were still counting their dead and mourning the loss of ancestral lands.

The governor also shamelessly claimed that all internally displaced persons have returned home. This is another lie that collapses instantly when confronted with reality. Thousands of displaced persons remain unable to return to their communities because the conditions that forced them to flee still exist. To claim otherwise is to mock the suffering of vulnerable people whose lives have been shattered by violence and government neglect.

His claim that the government has established farms for all IDPs and that they are enjoying bumper harvests is perhaps one of the most cynical fabrications in his entire presentation. Displaced persons across Benue State know the truth. Many have been abandoned, neglected and left to depend on humanitarian assistance for survival. There are no state-established farms delivering bumper harvests to all IDPs. The claim exists only in the governor’s carefully scripted speeches.

Governor Alia further claimed that fertilisers have been massively distributed and that agriculture is thriving across the state. Yet farmers continue to battle insecurity, poor infrastructure and inadequate government support. Vast portions of fertile farmlands remain inaccessible because of attacks and occupation by armed Fulani invaders. There is nothing resembling the agricultural revolution Governor Alia attempted to portray at Aso Villa.

His claim that commercial motorcyclists have received grants from his administration is equally false. Across the state, commercial riders are asking the same question: where are these grants and who received them?

Governor Alia’s boast about transparency and accountability is perhaps the greatest irony of all. Since assuming office, his administration has operated behind a thick curtain of secrecy. Benue people are routinely denied information on the management of public resources. Billions of naira flow into government coffers through FAAC allocations, internally generated revenue and loans, yet Benue people are left guessing how these funds are spent. Meanwhile, allegations of monumental corruption, contract inflation and reckless diversion of public funds continue to trail the administration.

His claim of granting financial autonomy to local governments is another spectacular falsehood. The reality is that the 23 local governments in Benue State have been reduced to helpless spectators under a suffocating system of financial control. Most councils lack the resources to undertake even the most basic development projects. The governor’s grip on local government finances has rendered autonomy meaningless.

The administration’s handling of contracts has become a textbook example of opacity and cronyism. Due process has become the exception rather than the rule. Contracts are routinely shrouded in secrecy while allegations of inflated costs and preferential treatment for political associates continue to dominate public discourse.

Governor Alia’s claim that salary and pension arrears have been cleared is equally detached from reality. Academic and non-academic staff in all state-owned tertiary institutions are currently on strike over unresolved welfare issues. Pensioners continue to struggle. Workers remain frustrated. Yet the governor wants Nigerians to believe that all obligations have been settled.

The tragedy of Governor Alia’s administration is that it has become addicted to propaganda while governance suffers. Instead of confronting the realities of insecurity, poverty, unemployment, decaying infrastructure and institutional collapse, the governor appears more interested in political image laundering and endless self-promotion.

Benue people do not need rehearsed speeches at Aso Rock. They need security. They need functioning institutions. They need roads, jobs, schools, hospitals and accountable leadership. They need a governor who tells the truth.

Governor Alia’s performance at the Presidential Villa was not a presentation of achievements. It was a carnival of lies. It was a desperate attempt to market failure as success and illusion as reality.

Unfortunately for him, Benue people live with the consequences of his administration every day. They know the truth. They see the truth. They experience the truth.

And no amount of propaganda can bury the truth!

Jerome Zoho is the President, Coalition for Truth and Justice (CTJ)