Was There Ever An Era Of Benue Exceptionalism? By Ihembe Martin

My boss, dear friend and uncle, Mr Adagbo Onoja introduced a new concept in media lexicon I find useful in making a very important statement on governance in post-1999 Benue State. While analyzing the politics surrounding the selection of Barrister Emmanuel Jime’s running mate – the All Progressives Congress gubernatorial candidate, he concluded by asking “who, between Ortom and Emmanuel Jime, is going to change the sorry story in favour of that elusive thing called Benue Exceptionalism….”? Millennials in Benue State who had a little dose of military dictatorship and much of bad leadership since the return to civil rule in 1999 are less inclined to contemplate a moment of Benue exceptionalism which Mr Onoja talked about.
To them, there has never been anything like Benue exceptionalism, and there will be anything like that. At least not in the foreseeable future. Is that really true? Perhaps a bit of historicism would help provide an answer.

After its creation in 1976 by the Murtala/Obasanjo led junta, nothing was achieved in terms of development under the Abdullahi Shelleng and Adebayo Lawal administration, both of which served between March 1976 and October 1979, respectively. Having served as Chairman of Kwande Local Government under the Shelleng’s administration in 1977, Aku run and won the gubernatorial election in 1979 under the National Party of Nigeria (NPN), and became the first executive Governor of the State. While in office, Aku pursued an aggressive policy with a style of governance that was focused on turning the three year old State into an emporium that would be investors’ destination by tapping into the State’s agriculture potentials while he also develop human capital. This was not a mean task by any standard.

However, he pursued his vision with determination under a harsh political environment amid series of challenges. Aku was a man of many parts. This reflected in his style of leadership and what he was able to accomplish in four years. By the time the military took over in December 1983, one would say it mission completed for Aku, even though he left unceremoniously. On the industrial plane, Aku established Benue Brewery, Benro Packing, Benue Bottling Company, Benue Links Limited, Taraku Vegetable Processing Industry and Oturkpo Burnt Bricks. Recognizing the special gift of nature to the State – fertile land suitable for agriculture, Aku gave agriculture maximum attention by establishing the massive Ber-Agbum Fish Farm. Aside the Fish Farm, this is place where rice can be cultivated in export quantity. He also setup a Cattle Ranch at Ikogen while he also supported other agricultural courses which saw the State recording bumper harvest in a lot of cash crops as a result of these intervention in the agric. sector. He started a massive water scheme which he could not complete before the Buhari led junta struck in December 1983 and ended civil rule.

Aku did not only establish industries, his love for commerce led him into conceiving Lobi Bank as well as an International Market with a vision to dredge River Benue and create a port where goods can be shipped into the state. Unfortunately this idea died with him. The Market is now an eyesore. He built a magnificent Secretariat, which arguably, is the best in Northern Nigeria. His love for entertainment led to the construction of international stadium and Art Council which has helped many. Oh, did I forget The Voice Newspaper! In the area of human development, aside building schools, Aku made scholarship opportunities available and accessible to Benue indigenes irrespective of ethnicity. Garba Shehu has detailed Aku’s exceptional strides in this in one of his pieces which I have taken the liberty to share
https://www.premiumtimesng.com/opinion/128868-gov-aper-akus-lesson-for-gov-kwankwaso-
by-garba-shehu.html.

This impressive feat Aper Aku recorded in such a short time answers the question the title of this piece posed. This is exactly what my boss, uncle and dear friend Adagbo Onoja had in mind when he spoke about Benue Exceptionalism. That Aku is referred to as a visionary leader ahead of his time and the father of modern Benue is not out of place. Take away his achievements and there will be nothing to talk about in Benue. With the foundation he laid, Aku placed Benue state on the springboard for succeeding administrations to launch the State to its rightful place. Sadly, his vision was not shared by his successors. The MILADs (Military Administrators), beginning with our own Atom Kpera in 1984, to Jonah Jang, Yohanna Madaki, Ishaya Bakut, Idris Garba and Fidelis Makka sentenced Aku’s achievements to death by abandoning the projects he initiated. The reverend Father Moses Orshior Adasu who took office in 1992 under the platform of the Social Democratic Party (SDP)reversed the sentence as he embarked on restoring Benue Exceptionalism by travelling the Aku road. His administration was truly reminiscent of Aku’s. Between January 1992 and November 1993, Adasu built the first state University in Northern Nigeria. He improved Oju College of Education which was initiated by Aku, and went ahead to build BENCO roofing tiles factory.

He setup Joseph Saawuan Tarkaa Foundation, Katsina Ala fruit juice factory and constructed roads. The good thing about the developmental strides of Aku and Adasu is that Benue people were empowered. I know a lot of people who were gainfully employed in those state-owned corporations before some of them were corruptly ran down. Today, Benue State University provides employment to thousands, thanks to the wonderful vision of late Father Adasu. But as it turned out again, the trio of Joshua Obademi, Aminu Kontagora, and Dominic Oneya who served as MILADs between December 1993 and May 1999 sentenced Adasu’s vision of Benue Exceptionalism to death. And since then, the notion of Benue Exceptionalism has been “elusive” as uncle Onoja rightly observed. Let me explain why it is elusive; and I will be “brutally truthful” in my explanation. Brutally truthful not because I am out to insult those who are culpable, but because I want them to reconsider putting Benue first in their quest for power and influence ahead of 2019 instead of their narrow interest which has detained Benue in a state of despondency.

While the MILADs succeeded in sentencing Benue state to death by killing the vision of Benue Exceptionalism pursued bt Aku and Adasu, the post-1999 political class executed the death sentence handed by the MILADs. Having served out two consecutive terms of eight years each, none of the post-1999 Governors could achieve a fraction of what Aku and Adasu achieved in their five years and eight months in office, combine. Instead, they embarked on privatizing the state-owned corporations Aku worked so hard to establish. Sometime in April this year, the current administration put up eleven more of those corporations for sell. The Question is: if Aku had embarked on the kind of profligacy and looting of the state treasury with reckless abandon as we have seen in the past eighteen years, would there be any state-owned corporations to for those who privatized, and are privatizing, to privatize today?

Visionary leaders do not offer themselves for service in order to help themselves with state resources and bring untold hardship on the people they swore to govern as we have seen in our State, but to protect the people and better their lot by pursuing policy objectives that promote public goods. In the last eighteen years, governance in Benue State has been everything but beneficial to the suffering masses with the sad phenomenon of none payment of salaries, insecurity, growing rate of cultism, drug problems, infrastructural deficit, widespread poverty to mention a few. Al of these ills coupled with lack of vertical accountability on the part of the, leaders, one is inclined to ask: how different is this civil rule from the reign of the MILADs?

The 2019 general elections is less than three months from now. From the look of things, it is going to be a two horse race even though there are other contenders. Who are we going to bank on that can deliver the glorious era of Benue Exceptionalism once experience under Aku and Adasu? Is it the current inept government which has an F in all aspects? Or Emmanuel Jime? Should we consider other alternatives outside the two? If so, are the alternatives credible and reliable? Whichever way the people we decide, here is my candidate advice to the good people of Benue.

While it is true that every society gets the kind of leaders it deserves, we have vote and make we get what we deserve. As prepare to cast your vote, keep in mind the warning of the underperforming government of President Muhammadu Buhari. The government has warned of an impending hardship come 2019. Already revenue from petrodollar is dwindling; which is why that warning should be taken seriously. Casting your vote on someone who does not think beyond going to Abuja to collect rent in the name of revenue allocation from the Federation Account will not do you any good. Casting your vote on someone who shares Aku’s vision on education, economy, agriculture, infrastructural development, tourism, and social policy will do you and your suffering family a lot of good. Casting your vote on someone who is selfless and is not interested in accumulating wealth, but like Aku, is interesting in channeling it into developmental courses will serve Benue right. This is the only way that we can attain the now elusive quest for Benue Exceptionalism. A vote for this government and someone who shares the same vision with it on another platform is a vote that will finally perform the burial ceremony of Benue State. To be forewarn is to be forearmed.

Ihembe, Ayankaa Martin is a Political Scientist with research interests in Political Development, public policy, Democracy and Democratization Governance, and Political Theory. He can be reached via07036396194