NDUBUISI UGAH 
Comrade Senator Abba Moro, a former minister of the Interior in the administration of ex-President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, and serving Senator, representing Benue South Senatorial District in the Senate, spoke to NDUBUISI UGAH on power shift to Benue South, otherwise known as Zone C, in 2023. Excerpts:
What would you say informed the agitation for power shift in 2023 to Benue South (Zone C), which is believed not to have had the opportunity of a shot at the governorship slot?
We have requested for support for power to shift to Zone C of Benue State popularly known as Benue South this time around. I fired the first shot at the state congress of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2020. I pleaded with our brothers and sisters in Zones A and B to support a candidate of Benue South extraction. It resonated with some people.
It didn’t resonate with some other people. This is in tandem with my promise to my people, the electorate, when I was campaigning to become their Senator that I was going to be their spokesperson. I have personally gone round some critical stakeholders advocating for power shift, not necessarily a power shift to Abba Moro. No! That is not what I am asking for. I am speaking for my people. I am speaking for the people that I represent in the National Assembly.
I have convinced myself that this is the right time for Benue people to support somebody from Zone C to become the governor against the backdrop of the fact that since the creation of Benue State no person from the zone had become governor. Apparently, all the kindred houses in the Tiv speaking area in zones A and B have become governor. One person in each of the kindred – five of them – has become governor. So, in 2023 we expect that if we believe sincerely in the corporate existence of Benue State somebody from Benue South should be supported to become governor. Therefore, this time around we are insisting that we should be supported.
I am saying personally that this time around we must talk. The people of Benue must talk. We must debate. We must negotiate. If somebody from Benue South is not going to be governor, I will insist that our brothers should give us reasons why because we are part and parcel of Benue State. We have been supporting our brothers from Zones A and B to become governors without questions. In the last election for instance, nobody from Benue South contested against the governor for his second term. I think that the message is sinking. The advocacy is becoming more intense and aggressive because the awareness is there already that this is the time – like an idea whose time has come. I will continue to talk to our brothers and sisters and other stakeholders too will continue to talk.
What have been the responses from the other two zones in respect of this agitation?
To be fair to them, sizeable number of persons in Zones A and B agreed that this is the time for power to shift to Benue South. Even within Zones A and B, there are advocacy groups now that are springing up. The Benue Patriot, for instance, is one of such groups. The Benue Patriot is made up essentially of very prominent Benue sons and daughters. That is to tell you the level of acceptance or resonation that has taken place since the advocacy started. So, this is a Benue project. It is not just about Zone C. Power shift to Zone C, Benue South, is now a Benue project embraced by sizeable number of Benue citizens. Even current members of the National Assembly, majority of them are in agreement in principle that this is the right thing to do in 2023. In the Benue State House of Assembly you can find a sizeable number of them too. Therefore, I think that the agitation for power shift to Benue South is on course and as the Senator representing the Benue South people, I am in the forefront.
Benue State has been in existence for over 45 years. What could have been responsible for the inability of Benue South to produce a governor all these years?
In politics and in democracy we call it the tyranny of the majority. Elections are about numbers. As I speak to you Zones A and B made up essentially of the Tiv speaking people constitute about 70 to 80 per cent of the voting population of Benue State. So, for as long as they decide to continue to support one of their own for that long they would continue to be governor. As a matter of fact, they can afford to be the governorship candidate and the deputy governorship candidate and still win the election. That is the truth about politics and democracy in Benue State and Nigeria. Ordinarily, I will not subscribe to the theory of marginalisation. It is all about democracy and the game of numbers. Majority always carries the votes. And so, I think that is what is playing out. That is the dynamics of politics that is playing out in Benue State. B u t Benue people are people of conscience. In the past, because elections are about numbers and Zones A and B has the numbers to always win elections.
Late Chief Godwin Dabor of blessed memory had postulated that a person or persons of the Benue South Senatorial District will only be supported to become governor after the five kindred houses, royal houses, ruling houses of the Tiv speaking area become governor.
Some of us felt that it was too long away. And that it was never going to come. But it has come. The current governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom, is from the last ruling house of the Tiv speaking people to become governor. That is why we find it auspicious at this time to ask to be supported to become the next governor of the state. Because the five houses that has been the basis for not supporting a person from the Benue South has produced governors. And so, we are saying that we can as well become the sixth ruling house in Benue and be supported to become governor.
But why has been difficult for your state to have adopted the rotational principle as other states have been done even though many people would argue that rotation of power is not constitutional?
The reality of it is that all of us have different approaches to life. In some states like you have said, minorities have produced governors for the states. But that is not the case for Benue. It is because it is not the case that we are now advocating formally. It is part of the dynamics of politics for stakeholders to work out the arrangements for producing the best from all the sectors and sections of the state. But let me hasten to state here that it has dawn on us that framers of the 1999 constitution as a m e n d e d d i d n ’ t t a k e i n t o cogni-sance the possibility of the tyranny of the majority in our present democracy. That is why even though the PDP for instance, advocates for zoning in terms of its elective and appointive positions, it was not entrenched in the constitution. Right now, I am telling you that because of the reality on ground of a section of the country or a section of the state monopolising power, we have proposed for power rotation to be formally and constitutionally entrenched such that the governorship seat in states will rotate between the senatorial districts.
That was going to be my next question that what are you doing as a lawmaker in the highest legislative body for power rotation to be embedded in Nigeria’s constitution?
It is part of the proposals that have been made to the constitution review committee and we are following it up, especially those of us from the minority communities in Nigeria. Of course, there is also a proposal for independent candidacy. I don’t know how far that can go. But the reality is that there are people of minority status in their various states that are popular enough to be able to garner support from all the sectors of the states to become governors of their states.
There are indications that given your leading role in this struggle that some persons are pressurising you to join the race for the governorship seat in 2023 if eventually Zone C is given the slot, would consider this?
I am a politician and in politics anything is possible. But quite frankly at this moment I am a Senator representing the good people of Benue South Senatorial District. I have not spent up to two years yet. I am privileged to be in custody of the collective mandate of the people of Benue South Senatorial District to be their Senator. Therefore, my advocacy of power shift is essentially in tandem with my mandate to speak for the people, to espouse their collective expectations and aspirations. That is exactly what I am doing right now. If it becomes necessary that I contest to become governor, I should be able to at that time tell my people when and if I am contesting to become governor. But right now, I am the Senator representing the people and I speak for the people. For now who should become the governor shouldn’t be in the front burner. What should be in the front burner should be the advocacy and agitation for power to shift to Benue South Senatorial District. I know that when the time comes, there are many qualified citizens of Benue South that can become governor and perform very well for Benue State.
