HOW GOV ALIA USED N2 BILLION TO REMOVE ASSEMBLY SPEAKER
…The Corruption Allegations, the Involvement of Tor Tiv, Solomon Wombo use
By JEBRA REPORTERS, Makurdi
It is no longer news that the Governor of Benue State, Hyacinth Alia, yesterday forced the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Hon. Aondona Dajoh, to resign.
Reliable sources have confirmed that the forced resignation of the Speaker was as a result of a number of factors and unresolved issues, some of which bordered on corruption, which the Dajoh-led Assembly carried out investigations into and made shocking discoveries of corruption by the governor and his appointees.
The House of Assembly is reported to have unearthed fraud under Alia of unprecedented proportions amounting to N117,104,208,480.29 (N117 billion) in contract deals.
Hon. Dajoh apparently touched the tail of the tiger when he demanded that Governor Alia’s Works Commissioner should appear before the House and explain how a short road rehabilitation contract of only 13 kilometres from Wurukum to Airforce Base in Makurdi was awarded for N68.3 billion, despite confirmation that the actual cost of the project was only N28 billion, meaning the amount was inflated by the governor.
Dajoh also ran into trouble with the governor when the House pushed for the suspension of the Chairman of Benue State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Grace Adagba, who was being shielded from investigation by Governor Alia.
Mrs. Adagba was accused of diverting over N3 billion from SUBEB accounts with the approval of the governor.
The last straw that broke the camel’s back was when Governor Alia sent a list of commissioner nominees to the Assembly, but the Dajoh-led legislature stood its ground that the indicted officials in the Alia administration, including Mrs. Adagba, must be suspended and their other demands met.
Governor Alia quickly began to hatch a plan to remove the Speaker in a despotic approach using five members of the Assembly led by Alfred Emberga, the member representing Makurdi-North State Constituency, who is now the Speaker.
When stories began to fly around town that Alia was plotting to remove the Speaker, the governor came out swiftly through a statement by his chief press secretary and denied plans to remove the Speaker.
But behind the scenes, the governor had recruited Solomon Wombo, the member representing Katsina-Ala/Logo/Ukum Federal Constituency, to help him get the needed number of signatures from the state Assembly members to oust Dajoh.
Governor Alia last Friday invited Dajoh and assured him that he had no intention of removing him because they have maternal ties (Alia’s mother is from Mbatiav, Dajoh’s place in Gboko Local Government Area).
The following day, the governor personally took bags of money to one of the lodges in Government House where he had assembled some of the Assembly members ready to impeach the Speaker.
The plot later failed that night. Dajoh survived the first attempt to remove him and the next day, he suspended Alfred Emberga and three of his conspirators.
Governor Alia immediately activated his plan B to get the Speaker out of the way.
The Governor vowed to remove Dajoh and make Emberga the new Speaker, a young man who has no formal education, whose only qualification for public office has been the insult of political opponents on social media.
Alia did everything to accomplish his agenda of making Emberga the Speaker.
Solomon Wombo’s involvement:
Governor Alia gave N50 million for each member who cooperated with him to remove the Speaker. But the House of Representatives member Wombo, who was helping him broker the deal, took N10 million from the N50 million meant for each Assembly member who endorsed the removal of Dajoh and gave them only N40 million each.
On the night that Governor Alia first attempted to remove Dajoh, he spent more than N500 million trying to win the support of a few more members of the House to join those who endorsed the removal of the Speaker.
The rejected Commissioner nominee & Tor Tiv’s involvement:
After Aondona Dajoh was removed as the Speaker, reliable information began to emerge regarding the involvement of the Tor Tiv, Professor James Ortese Iorzua Ayatse, in the whole picture.
The Tiv paramount ruler was said to be very angry with the Speaker for leading the rejection of his younger brother, an Associate Professor of Law, Yangien Ornguga Ayatse, during the screening of commissioner nominees.
Ornguga, a lecturer at Benue State University, Makurdi, is the younger brother of the Tor Tiv, Professor James Ayatse.
Ayatse, who is very close to Governor Alia, was given a slot for commissioner and he found his blood brother, the only name from Kwande suitable for the position.
Unfortunately, the lawmakers led by Dajoh, owing to the deluge of petitions against the nominee, found him unworthy of holding the office.
This, no doubt, infuriated the governor and the Tor Tiv, and the two men decided to move against the Speaker.
Governor Alia and his allies – the Tor Tiv, Wombo and others eventually forced Dajoh to resign paving way for their preferred choice to emerge!
The new Speaker, Alfred Emberga, is said to have already promised the Tor Tiv and the governor that the rejected nominee Yangien Ayatse will be presented to the House again and cleared for appointment as commissioner.
Written by JEBRA REPORTERS
