A suspended priest in the Catholic diocese of Gboko, Benue state, Hyacinth Alia, has a great chance of becoming the next governor of the state having won the governorship ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state.
The priest won the ticket after polling a high number of votes totaling 7,000 at the primary election that was held on Friday.
He defeated a former national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Barnabas Gemade, and a former attorney-general of the federation (AGF), Mike Aondoakaa.
The priest said he joined the governorship race to rescue Benue people from the “shackles of maladministration”.
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“From the day I took the decision to answer the overwhelming calls of my people to contest the governorship of Benue with the aim to rescue our people from the shackles of maladministration, I was fully aware of the sacrifice I was going to make,” he had said.
Alia’s declaration to run for governor had led the Catholic church to suspend him, temporarily relieving him of his priestly duties on the grounds of the canon laws of the Catholic church.
It is believed that Alia won the contest because the APC in Benue opted for direct primary to pick its governorship candidate, a system that ensures that members of the party in the state voted for their preferred choice and not selected delegates.
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It is believed that Alia’s popularity has been unsettling the camp of the opposition, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Benue as the party claims that the priest has never pulled anyone out of poverty.
In a statement on Thursday, Bemgba Iortyom, PDP publicity secretary in Benue, said the governorship hopeful is making “deceptive” promises. This was in response to his promise to rescue the people from the “shackles of maladministration”.