Benue State Governor Hyacinth Alia on Thursday inaugurated a campaign council for President Bola Tinubu’s 2027 re-election bid and his own second-term campaign.
The Governor in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary Tersoo Kula described the vote as a referendum on continuity and federal-state cooperation.
The Tinubu/Alia Campaign Council, led by Honourable Citizen Richard Asema as Director-General, was inaugurated at IBB Square in Makurdi followed by the commissioning of a President Bola Ahmed Tinubu Campaign Office in Wurukum.
Governor Alia told council members that their appointments reflected the confidence of the party leadership and Benue residents, urging unity, commitment and reconciliation among APC members ahead of the elections.
The Governor noted that a second term for himself and President Tinubu was necessary to sustain gains in security, education, health care, infrastructure, agriculture and industrialization.
He credited federal interventions with strengthening security operations and helping restore peace in previously troubled communities.
Among the administration’s stated achievements, Alia cited the recruitment of 9,700 primary-school teachers, improved public-school infrastructure, regular salary and pension payments, road construction and new agricultural processing facilities.
He said efforts to connect all 23 local government areas by road were nearly complete, with about 25% of the work outstanding. He also pointed to revived projects including Taraku Mills, the International Conference Centre at IBB Square and the Cancer Centre at Benue State University Teaching Hospital.
If re-elected, Alia said, his administration would consolidate existing projects rather than launch new ones, while prioritizing industrialization, agriculture, education, health care and commerce.
He argued that Benue’s agricultural capacity and emerging oil-and-gas prospects could expand internally generated revenue and reduce the state’s reliance on federal allocations.
NewsQuest reports that the launch comes amid visible tensions within Benue’s APC.
A faction aligned with Secretary to the Government of the Federation George Akume had earlier disowned the campaign council list, saying its members were included without authorization, even as it reaffirmed support for President Tinubu’s re-election.
The Benue State chapter of the All Progressives Congress recently unveiled a joint campaign council for President Bola Tinubu’s 2027 re-election bid and Governor Hyacinth Alia’s second-term campaign, naming Alia as chairman and including Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) George Akume, several of his allies, and figures linked to the Austin Agada-led faction.
The Benue Strategic Alliance for Tinubu 2027, a mobilisation platform associated with Akume’s camp, promptly disowned the list.
Its Director-General, Chief Akange Audu, said the group’s conveners Senator Jack Tilley-Gyado and Elder Simon Shango, along with its National Assembly and state assembly candidates, were included without authorisation.
The alliance said it has already published its own organisational and campaign structure, which it described as the authentic reference for its leadership, membership and operations.
It urged party executives, stakeholders, members and the public to disregard the Alia-led list.
The group alleged that established APC stakeholders were sidelined after the party’s 2023 electoral victories, a grievance it tied to the widening factional rift.
It also objected to the political symbolism of the council: Governor Alia was named chairman while SGF Akume, whom the alliance called the founder and foremost APC leader in Benue, was listed merely as a member.
Despite the dispute, the alliance said it remains committed to mobilising support for president Tinubu’s re-election and for APC legislative candidates recognised by Akume’s political direction, while stopping short of endorsing Alia’s campaign.
