By Philip Agbese
One is finally having cause to heave a sigh of relief with the emergence
of Prince Terhemen Tarzoor as the People Democratic Party (PDP)
governorship candidate for Benue state from the primary conducted on
Monday December 8th, 2014. The relief of course has to do with that
reassurance that the achievements of the outgoing governor, Gabriel Suswam
will be sustained by his successor.
The term successor is used here with all sense of confidence contrary to
the barrage of misinformation making the rounds as to the true state of
affairs in Benue state, particularly in the wake of electioneering process
around parties’ primaries. The tales that has been spread outside of
Benue state around the country give the impressions that are at best
misleading and often laughable since elections are not won by stridently
repeating falsehood.
As opposed to what naysayers are peddling, the administration of Suswam is
leaving behind achievements that will make Prince Terhemen Tarzoor’s
election a walk over given the positive impact it has made on the lives of
Benue citizens. In education, agriculture, healthcare, security,
employment creation and boosting investor confidence, Tarzoor has an array
of projects he can use to brag about his would be predecessor’s
achievement and a basis for which his party, the PDP, should be elected in
the February elections to continue running the affairs of the state.
Confirmation that the duo would successfully work as a team is already a
reality with Tazor picking the Commissioner for Works and Transport, John
Ngbede, as his running mate. This is the hallmark of a political family
that is able to reach decisions amicably without unnecessarily heating up
the polity. This is what gives one that assurance that Benue state is
guaranteed a seamless transition in the aftermath of the elections.
A Tarzoor governorship is also certain to guarantee the completion of
on-going projects initiated under the Suswam governorship since government
is a continuum. The same can be said of the growth oriented policies of
the outgoing administration. These facts must be borne in mind by Benue
people as they head for the polls since the trend has shown the penchant
for people oriented projects to be ignored or completely abandoned when
there is a change of political parties at the helms of affairs. When this
happens there is the resulting cost to the state as the amount already
expended on the projects are lost or the gains from policies are truncated
once discontinued.
The need to avoid such bleak future is already glaring given the manner of
campaign emanating from those who lost out to Tarzoor at the primary. They
are not just satisfied with defecting but have embarked on a campaign of
actively working to confuse the people as well as confuse the issues.
Instead of coming up with campaign messages that address issues, they have
resorted to name calling and manipulation of information with the sole
intention of brewing disaffection ahead of an imminent Tarzoor win in the
coming weeks. Such tantrums, coming from people who could not win
primaries in their original political parties, should ordinarily be
dismissed with a wave of the hand but is important to set the record
straight so that Benue people get to know what they should really be
talking about.
Fortunately for Benue state, the PDP is strongly on ground and Tarzoor
should be taking oath of office come May 29. Those who are allergic to
this truth are apparently behind the fables being woven about the
party’s dwindling fortune in that state. Such inaccuracies being peddled
are likely the outcome of frustration that derive from the realisation
that the defections from the PDP to lesser known political parties were
tactical errors that are now being rued.
The decision by Suswman to continue serving Benue people by running for
Senate has further confounded these defectors. Being in the Senate
strategically places the outgoing governor in a position to consolidate on
his achievements as he will be able to influence national legislations in
ways that strengthen his successor’s quest for economic growth for the
state.
While Suswam would be returning to familiar turf in the National Assembly,
he has demonstrated, with his eight years of service as governor of Benue
state that experience garnered from one arm of government usually proves
useful in the other arm. This perhaps explains the team spirit behind the
tandem race that Suswam and Tarzoor are running in the interest of Benue
state. Tarzoor, like Suswam has had his sojourn in the state assembly and
has also occupied leadership positions as a former lawmaker and must thus
understand the intricacies that his predecessor daily deals with.
These two great men have committed to running this relay race on behalf of
the people of Benue state, the least that can be done for them is to
ensure that they record such resounding victories at the polls that they
would not need to deal with any future distractions in relations to the
mandates that the people are poised to give them. The state and the lots
of its people will be better for it.
Comrade Philip Agbese is a social crusader and contributed this piece from
Abuja.
Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN