MAKURDI, Nigeria – Benue State Governor, Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Iormem Alia, has warned the vice-presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, FNSE, to desist from meddling in the internal political affairs of Benue State and focus on resolving his party’s declining electoral fortunes in Kano State, political correspondents monitored in Makurdi on Wednesday, September 23, 2026.
The rejoinder follows public criticisms leveled against the Benue State chief executive by the former Kano State governor regarding political leadership in the state and the controversy surrounding the recent uncoordinated visit of NDC presidential standard-bearer Peter Gregory Obi, CON, to the North-Central state.
Okay News reports that in an official statement issued in Makurdi on Wednesday by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Sir Tersoo Kula, mnipr, the state administration characterized Kwankwaso’s utterances as an unfortunate and unwarranted insult that degrades constructive democratic engagement.
The state government maintained that Kwankwaso’s hostility toward Governor Alia stems from displaced frustration over the organizational lapse that characterized Obi’s trip to Benue, which the administration asserted was conducted without standard administrative protocol before the opposition ticket leveled unverified allegations of harassment against the state government.
“We understand his misplaced grudge against Governor Alia,” Kula stated in the official dispatch. “He is angry because his principal, Peter Obi, was sneaked into Benue without proper coordination, after which he falsely accused the Governor of disrupting the visit. Obi’s drama was completely set up by those who are desperate to give Governor Alia a bad name, and if, up to this point, Kwankwaso is yet to understand that Obi was used, we are compelled to wonder whether he is truly a politician who understands the politics of this region.”
The governor’s spokesperson emphasized that Governor Alia, a Catholic priest elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, holds a sovereign democratic mandate directly from the people of Benue State, stressing that constitutional courtesy requires external political figures to respect the executive leadership of the state.
Kula cautioned the former defence minister against attempting to manufacture political rifts between Governor Alia and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume, CON, asserting that the political leadership in the state remains united behind its governance priorities.
“Someone needs to tell the former Governor of Kano State that, rather than interfering in Benue’s internal affairs or making unfounded claims about the relationship between Governor Alia and Senator George Akume, he should focus on the political challenges confronting him in Kano,” the statement added.
The spokesperson noted that Kwankwaso’s diminishing grassroots dominance in Kano State, punctuated by poor showings in recent legislative by-elections, should serve as an urgent priority rather than distractions aimed at sub-national administrations in the Middle Belt.
“Kwankwaso should be advised to stop insulting the sensibilities of Benue people, as the people are capable of judging their government and deciding their political future,” Kula affirmed. “Kwankwaso should face Kano politics. He has enough to explain about why his party performed so abysmally in the last by-elections conducted in his state. He must respect the people’s mandate in Benue and offer ideas, not insults.”
