The race to the number one seat of Kwande Local Government Area, Benue State gets interesting as the caretaker Chairman, Mr Neji Vitalis, was reported to have purchased both the Expression of Interest and nomination forms amounting to the sum of five million Naira (N5m).
This came towards the tail end of the sale of forms for the forth coming local government elections in Benue State.
But many political watchers conversant with the political equation in the local government who spoke to one of our correspondents on the condition of anonymity said: “It is interesting because the zoning arrangement for the number one seat of Kwande does not favour Hon. Neji who is from Shangev-ya.”
He stated that: “The All Progressives Congress (APC) has zoned the chairmanship to Turan. Turan axis of Kwande local government in turn has narrowed it down to Yaav ward. And for Neji Vitalis, who is fully aware of this configuration to be influenced by no other person than ‘or u maan tea a CJN’, to jump into the ring has introduced a new dance step into the game. The days ahead promises to be interesting as other aspirants have loaded arrows and secured quivers to deploy the same on target.”
Another source who also pleaded for anonymity said that it is a game plan orchestrated by the same Mr. Moses Ternenge from Shangev-ya who is allegedly dragging into the mud the great name of no other personality than the Governor of Benue State, Rev. Fr. Dr. Hyacinth Iormem Alia.
They categorically stated that, “on Thursday September 29, a section of the Kwande APC leaders meeting was held at Green Belt Hotel in Makurdi at the instance of Mr. Ternenge where five people were clandestinely selected from each council ward in Kwande and it is in that meeting that a deliberate plan was plotted and it is the result of the meeting we are seeing today. This is because, Ternenge brought in Hon. Neji Vitalis as Caretaker chairman and as well bought the expression of interest and nomination forms for Mr. Jeff Sundah Iortsor, a career civil servant based in Abuja.
“Sundah is from Yaav council where the chairman is supposed to come from. His mother is actually from the distinguished Sundah Yongo family Sundah Tonga was a famous businessman and was the major distributor of Vitafoam in Adikpo town. So for Ternenge to bring in Hon. Neji who did not gauge the situation very well now is suspicious and it is definitely a game plan to distract attention. But the opponents who also boast of connection from the Headquarters are also mapping up responsible and speedy strategies to contain this untoward move”.
The source continued; “I am aware that Jeff Sundah Iortsor is a political hallelujah boy of Hon. Terlumun Akputu and Moses Ternenge. Hon. Akputu is allegedly from the SGF camp of APC, just as Lady Helen Atom who wanted to force her son, Philip Saa-Aondo Julius Tsewua Atom, from Div, Nzaav, Yaav ward in Turan. And another reason why Moses Ternenge is very much interested in Jeff is the fact that Jeff’s mother is from his home and it will be easy to work with Jeff than anybody else. This however sounds crazy, as things don’t always work like this in politics.”
On his part, a young man that claimed to be deadly familiar with the sequence of the prevailing political wiring, Mr. Torhide (who refused to tell one of our reporters his surname) said that there are two evil possibilities for Hon. Neji Vitalis’ emergence, which still point to one conclusion.
“One, he is being used by Moses Ternenge to split votes at the primary election so that his preferred candidate, Mr. Jeff, will scale through. And two is that Neji Vitalis is put in the race to gather votes at the primary election for Jeff. That is he (Neji) will step down during the primary election for Jeff and ask his supporters to rally round Jeff Sundah Iortsor.”
He maintained, “to back up this plan, Hon. Bem Tseen (who recently betrayed another camp) and close allies of Moses Ternenge were brought in and put at the helm of conducting the screening so as to disqualify potential candidates from Turan that are threat to Jeff Sundah Iortsor.”
Our correspondents gathered, as at Sunday 11AM, that Hon. Bem Tseen is an active joker in the meeting held at Green Belt Hotel Makurdi and another held on Saturday 31 September with some APC leaders from Kwande at Palm Garden Makurdi. Bem Tseen is rumored to have perfected plans to make his wife the vice chairmanship candidate to Neji Vitalis, if the dead-on-arrival plan materialises.
Our correspondents who have been monitoring the situation since Terver Kachina and Fidelis Unôngo muted the Mbaikyôr plan, also gathered that it was at the meeting held at Green Belt Hotel that produced list of all flopped councilorship aspirants from all Council Wards in Kwande to which Moses Ternenge pledged to purchase their expression of interest and nomination forms.
Before this time, a tug of war surfaced as to which Council Ward in Turan will produce the next chairman of Kwande. The battle was between Yaav and Mbaikyôr council wards. This led to both political and traditional leaders stepping in to resolve the impasse and eventually, the chairmanship was zoned to Yaav who haven’t produced an elected Council chairman before.
However, two people, in the persons of Dr. Isaac Utera Doho and one unknown Prince Tordue have bought forms from Mbaikyôr Council Ward while five people from Yaav Council Ward have purchased the forms. Notable among them is Hon. Imoter Richard Nomkpo and four others.
The screening of candidates begins today, Sunday by 12pm in Makurdi. Our correspondent tried in vain to speak with chairmanship aspirants from Yaav Council Ward for their respective opinions on the current situation of things. However, he was able to get Imoter Richard Nomkpo who indicated that he has mobilized the big weights and fashioned his strategy to outwit all recalcitrant aspirants and their supporters. He also assured not to disappoint the good people of Kwande but to deliver on his programmes if given the mandate.
