{"id":116746,"date":"2025-03-13T11:02:25","date_gmt":"2025-03-13T10:02:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=116746"},"modified":"2025-03-13T11:02:25","modified_gmt":"2025-03-13T10:02:25","slug":"benue-gov-denies-defection-rumours-says-not-joining-el-rufai-in-sdp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/benue-gov-denies-defection-rumours-says-not-joining-el-rufai-in-sdp\/","title":{"rendered":"Benue gov denies defection rumours, says not joining El Rufai in SDP"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Benue State Governor, Hyacinth Alia, has debunked speculations that he is planning to leave the All Progressives Congress\u00a0 for the Social Democratic Party .<\/p>\n<p>In a statement issued on Wednesday by his Chief Press Secretary, Tersoo Kula, in Makurdi, Alia described the rumours as baseless and the handiwork of mischief-makers attempting to create friction between him and President Bola Tinubu.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese falsehoods not only miss the mark but also expose a deep misunderstanding of my relationship with the president,\u201d Alia said.<\/p>\n<p>The governor made it clear that he had never considered leaving the party that brought him into office, dismissing claims that he was aligning with former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, for a defection to the SDP.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe suggestion that I am contemplating a shift to the SDP, alongside Mallam Nasir El-Rufai and others, is not only laughable but completely unfounded,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n<p>He also accused detractors of recycling old pictures to push their narrative, including false claims that El-Rufai recently visited Makurdi.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey forget that security reports accompany such visits. No such thing happened,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>Alia, who described himself as the leader of the APC in Benue, said he had revived the party, which was on the verge of collapse before the 2019 elections.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur remarkable performance in office has not only strengthened the APC but has also sent the opposition into hiding,\u201d he boasted.<\/p>\n<p>He noted that since assuming office, his administration had worked tirelessly to reposition Benue in alignment with the Federal Government, leading to various benefits, including key political appointments for Benue indigenes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur commitment to President Tinubu\u2019s Renewed Hope agenda is evident in the development strides we are recording across the state,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Benue State Governor, Hyacinth Alia, has debunked speculations that he is planning to leave the All Progressives Congress\u00a0 for the Social Democratic Party . In a statement issued on Wednesday&hellip;<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":110664,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-116746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Benue gov denies defection rumours, says not joining El Rufai in SDP - Pointblank News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/benue-gov-denies-defection-rumours-says-not-joining-el-rufai-in-sdp\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Benue gov denies defection rumours, says not joining El Rufai in SDP - Pointblank News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Benue State Governor, Hyacinth Alia, has debunked speculations that he is planning to leave the All Progressives Congress\u00a0 for the Social Democratic Party . 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