A Cry From Zone B: Give Us Mark And Take
Akume
By Ayilaga Igbayima G
We in Zone B Senatorial District otherwise
referred to as Benue North-West Senatorial
District have been following and enjoying all
the political arithmetic and manipulations
ongoing in Zone C Senatorial District on who
represents them in the Senate of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria after the February 20,
2016, Senatorial Rerun election. We also are
fully aware that the contenders for the coveted
seat are two Idoma sons viz: Distinguished
Senator David A.B. Mark and Comrade Daniel
Onjeh. The dossiers of these two men have
been carefully x-rayed hence, we have
resolved to make this brotherly request to our
Idoma neighbours to please do us a favour by
loaning Senator David Mark to us and go
ahead to send an Onjeh to the Senator or vote
for Sen. Akume, our three-term senator to
represent their interest in the Red Chambers.
This request may sound ridiculous to some
but to those who know the worth and
laudable contribution of Senator David Mark
to his Idoma kinsmen since 1999 to date in
comparison with the dismal performance of
our leaders from Zone A and B since the
present democratic experimentation will agree
that our request for Senator Mark is quite
timely, hence we urge all our fellow
constituents and other well-meaning citizens
of Tiv extraction to join hands with us to
convince our Idoma neighbours to do us this
great favour by releasing to us their illustrious
son, Senator David Mark whom they claimed
to be tired of, except they are fooling us to
only collect the monies Governor Ortom and
Senator Akume is dishing out all in the name
of trying to unseat Senator Mark. We have
argued variously in different joints across
Gboko that Ortom and Akume should beware
of some Idoma politicians as they can change
their minds at the eleventh hour to support
their brother Mark. The large sums of money
being given to some of these expired
politicians from Zone C who have no political
relevance should instead be used to develop
Tivland to make us have a feel of what it
means to have leaders, but Senator Akume
and Gov. Ortom will have none of these.
Time shall tell whether Akume and Ortom will
actually make real their threat of using all
machinery at their disposal to unseat Senator
Mark whose achievements towers very high
among his constituents. No Tiv son can feign
ignorance that if place side by side, the best
choice between Akume and Mark is to go for
Mark, if not for anything, but at least for his
tenacity and single-mindedness towards
uplifting his people and placing them in
relevant positions at the federal level. I think
our boast of controlling the State is becoming
very useless and of no consequence by the
day, as our dear State have remained stagnant
these forty (40) years of its existence with little
or nothing tangible in terms of development
to make one boast of. I would rather get a job
in Abuja than sit all year long in Benue
boasting of the Tiv man imagined political
domination which brings no food to my table.
I am always shocked and surprised each time
an Idoma son or daughter asks the question
“what has David Mark done for these 16
years?”. It is either the Idomas are the worst
ingrate the Nigerian nation has ever produced
or they are both myopic, insensitive,
unappreciative and uninformed about the
achievements recorded by their son or they
are fooling and making jest of us in Tivland
each time they ask the silly question – “what
has David Mark done since 1999?”.
It was precisely in the first week of February
2016 that I stumbled on an internet material –
a write-up by Yemi Itodo, an Idoma young
man, cataloguing Senator David Mark’s
unparallel achievements in the area of human
capital development all in his efforts to
educate his Idoma folks of the laudable
achievements of their son. This young man in
the said write-up shows the stuff he was made
up of as he did an in-depth research on David
Mark’s achievements over the past sixteen
years. The phase-1 of the list according to
him, was the over 85 Idoma sons and
daughters that the distinguished Senator has
influenced their appointments mostly as
Chairmen and members of Boards and
Parastatals across the length and breadth of
this country. That none of the people on that
list has come out to deny or fault the said
publication is a further testimony to its
authenticity, hence this write-up and a timely
request from the Idomas, if they are actually
serious and are not just fooling us. I could not
but envy the Idoma, and I am pretty sure any
ethnic nationality in this country will envy the
Idoma for these numerous appointments that
have come their way through the efforts of
their Senator. No wonder, my Senator, George
Akume keeps having sleepless nights and
headaches over David Mark’s stay in the
Senate. My friends in Gboko and Makurdi
town have been bombarding me with calls to
prove my never dying loyalty and support to
Senator Akume, since the said publication by
Yemi Itodo. Frankly, Senator Akume has next
to nothing to show to his constituents, going
by these long list of personalities from Zone C
whose appointments were all credited to the
Senator from that Zone. Of course, I have kept
mute since them to save myself unnecessary
insults and assaults from friends.
Take note that the list of appointments as
released by Mr. Yemi Itodo does not contain
the usual employment of men and women
into the Police, Army, Navy, Airforce, Custom,
Civil Defence, Prisons Service, Immigration,
Fire Service and so many countless other
ministries and parastatals where Senator
Mark’s constituents hold sway; what do you
say of his scholarship scheme to all indigenes
of Benue State since 1999 and many
infrastructural facilities he has brought to his
people, yet the question on the lips of the
average Zone C citizen is “what has Senator Mark
done since 1999?”. That is the height of
ingratitude and a show of complete
foolishness for a people so blessed to deride
their leader and make him an object of
ridicule and opprobrium despite his tireless
efforts at uplifting them both politically and
economically. If my Senator in Zone B has
done 40% of what Senator Mark has done for
his constituents, I am pretty sure the Tiv Area
Traditional Council would have conferred a
chieftaincy title on Senator George Akume
long ago.
Senator Akume and Gemade’s only challenge
are their inability to speak out for their people
when the occasion demands. They would
rather come home to flex their muscle with
small boys while over there in Abuja they
appear powerless and have clearly abdicated
in their constitutional duties to their
constituents. It is on record that Senator
George Akume has not sponsored any bill of
relevance to his constituents since 2007 when
he got elected to the National Assembly. We in
Tivland are so unfortunate that even when
debates are made on the floor of the Senate,
our own sons are mostly silent and when they
attempt to make any contribution, it’s mostly
incoherently presented that you will begin to
wonder if these so-called illustrious sons of
Tivland are afraid of the faces they meet in
the Senate. And every of their misfortune they
quickly blame on Senator Mark.
I am still at a loss how Senator David Mark
has become the albatross to the glaring non-
performance of these two leaders of Tivland.
Senator George Akume embarrassed the entire
Tiv nation when during the contest for the
seat of Senate President in 2007, he in his
presentation told his colleagues, in the full
view of the whole world that he was the
Governor of Benue State from 1979 to 2007.
This was an insult, not only to his senatorial
district but the entire Tiv nation. Even if this
was a slip of the tongue, then it was quite
unfortunate, as it contributed in no small
measure in robbing him of the exalted office
of the Senate President. 2007 to date is long a
period for Senator Akume to have purified
himself of this shortcoming and timidity but I
doubt if he is not worse-off now as he is
hardly heard when issues of national
importance and relevance to his people are
discussed. As usual, all that will be blamed on
Senator David Mark, as if he was bewitched.
To the average Tivman and woman on the
street, Senator Mark is the only reason why
their Senators have performed abysmally and
poorly since they got to the Senate. We were
almost believing their lies until recently, when
though Mark was not in the Senate, and why
we have our two Senators in the ruling All
Progressive Congress, the Tivs with their
numerical strength and near-complete
support for the APC-controlled government
could not produce a Minister in this present
democratic dispensation. Who then do we
blame for our non-inclusion in the Ministerial
list of President Muhammadu Buhari – do we
still blame Senator Mark and our Idoma
neighbours for our ill-luck? It is on record
that President Buhari earlier on confided in
Senator Akume to bring a man of proven
integrity from Benue State for a ministerial
appointment and all Akume could present was
an Akange Audu.
For those of us from Tivland and particularly
Jemgbagh axis, we know the man Akange
Audu with all his baggage could not score
more than 38% in Buhari’s integrity test,
hence he was outrightly rejected. If we may
ask, don’t we have men of proven integrity in
all the fourteen (14) local councils in Tiv land,
that Senator Akume, a man in whom we have
entrusted our future will choose such a
character like Akange Audu for the exalted
office of a Minister? Now that Buhari has
rejected his man, why didn’t he present the
said Akange Audu to Gov. Ortom to be made a
Commissioner if really he was that good? How
was it Senator Mark’s fault that we couldn’t
get a Minister from Tivland in this case? Is
Senator Mark also an APC senator? My
answer to some of these questions is that
unless and until our leaders put away
selfishness and begin to sincerely and
patriotically articulate the cause for which
they are voted for – which is projecting the
image of the larger Tiv nation and not just
that of a section or clan, we are far from
being liberated from our woes and none
should lay the blame at the doorstep of
another man in far away Otukpo.
It is for all these frustrations which we in
Zone A and B have been constantly subjected
to because of our leaders’ ineptitude and
selfishness that I would rather have Senator
Mark with his outstanding performance for
his constituents than an Akume or a Gemade.
If the Idomas are fed up with such unbroken
and unmatched achievements by their son,
then I think we in Zone B need his type. If
Senator Akume had done 1/3 of all that Mark
has done for his people, we will be
worshipping him like we did to his uncle the
late Joseph Saawuan Tarka. At least, Tarka
defended the Tivs all his political life and we
were far better off than we are now under an
Akume and a Gemade. The mystery behind
one Senator from Zone C being a threat to two
Senators in Zone A and B is still strange to
many of us.
If really Senator Akume sees Sen. David Mark
as truly being powerful, why is David Mark
not also calling the shots in the State politics –
meaning Senator Akume is better off as a local
politician than one to send on national
assignments. Is Akume not dictating to Gov.
Samuel Ortom whatever he is doing presently?
It is on record that of every appointment
purportedly made by the Governor, Senator
Akume actually made all. More than 80% of
all appointments so far made bear the
imprints of Senator Akume, the Governor is
not even in charge of minor appointments like
his own private and personal assistants as he
is completely tied to the apron string of his
benefactor, Akume, hence, we are seeing little
or nothing in terms of development in Benue
State even after accessing billions in loan and
bailout. The State appears worse-off under the
present Ortom-APC government than the
Suswam led PDP-government. Salaries, as
usual, are still largely unpaid as some civil
servants are still being owed up to three
months arrears of salaries. Only God knows
where all the loans taken in the name of
offsetting salary arrears is taken to.
If Senator Akume still has any shame, I advise
him to please engage in face-saving measures
by impressing it on the State Government to
urgently begin work on the Makurdi-Wanune-
Gboko-Ugbema road as these routes have
remained death traps since 1999. For his over
nine years of stay in the Senate, the
distinguished Senator has not seemed reason
to have this all-important road in his zone to
be put to proper use. A trip from Makurdi to
Ugbema will make you hate the Senator as this
road which directly lies within his senatorial
district has remained dilapidated since 1999,
despite the fact that same road has been
captured in successive federal budgets. Only
God knows where the monies appropriated
for the road over the years usually ends up!
Ortom should come to our rescue and repair
the road since he appears to have no any state
project to embark upon. If I may still ask, is it
Senator Mark that should come and construct
the roads lying within Tivland too? The
answer, of course, is NO.
All these frustrations I think are the reasons
for the sworn declaration by the trio of
Akume and Ortom to dethrone Senator Mark
at all cost. If I still have any right to advise
them, a right I am entitled to as their
constituent, I wish to advise Senator Akume
and Governor Ortom to think twice before
drawing the two ethnic tribes (Tiv and Idoma)
that have cohabited for years into avoidable
crises. As thing stand now, I think they are
only wasting state resources in the guise of
lobbying some expired Idoma politicians who
have no political relevance in their wards to
join the APC, all in a quest to unseat Senator
Mark. The resources used in bribing these
selfish leaders from zone C, I think would
rather benefit us more if channeled into
productive ventures for the development of
Zone A and B. The Idoma has had their fair
share in the Nigerian polity already, hence, I
doubt seriously the sincerity of these men
whom Akume and Ortom look up to deliver
Zone C to the APC come February 20, 2016.
Such elections can be highly sensitive and you
never can tell how the swing we turn later. It
has to do with ethnicity and the long held
view and belief that an Idoma man is a second
class citizen in Benue State, I think will make
the Idomas change their minds when the hour
of decision beckons.
Furthermore, the February 20 senatorial
rerun is about the general well-being and
tomorrow of the Idomas as a people, hence,
sentiments will later play up to the extent that
Senator David Mark might still carry the day. I
don’t see the Idomas sending an Onjeh to
represent their interest in the Senate. I am
surprised that Akume thinks otherwise as if he
is dealing with complete fools! The fact that
Senator Akume and Ortom has come out
clearly to show themselves as those behind the
candidature of Daniel Onjeh has already
created a serious crack in the once cordial
relationship between us and our Idoma
brothers. Abu King Shuluwa and Alhaji
Abubakar Tsav may have the last laugh as
they have already cautioned against Tiv’s
involvement in an entirely Idoma affair. The
earlier our State resources are not further
wasted in the name of politicking, I think the
better for us, as we will not forgive Senator
Akume and Governor Ortom at the end of the
day. A word is enough for the wise.
The Idomas must be mocking us each time
they castigate their son for non-performance.
Senator Akume and Gov. Ortom should be
wary and very careful of the characters they
are relating with from Zone C. It is difficult to
believe that a people can so hate their son as
the Idoma pretends to be doing now. I see
deception and mockery in so many of them. If
it is not mockery, I am yet to see or read of
any Senator since Nigeria became
independence in 1960 who has attracted the
number of appointments / laurels Senator
Mark has won for his people in just a space of
sixteen (16) years. If a tribe does not value
human capital development, then such a tribe
will have no value for any level of
development in his area. I am beginning to
think that why we in Tivland hate and scorn
Senator Mark due to his consistent and
persistent fight to have his kinsmen in every
sector of the Nigerian political cum economic
space, the Idoma in return sees no reason in
his continual stay in the Senate hence they are
calling for his head. To my Idoma neighbours,
I beg once more, “GIVE US SENATOR MARK AND
TAKE SENATOR AKUME”.
Ayilaga Igbayima G. is of Fidei Polytechnic,
Gboko, Benue State

www.idomapeopleofnigeria.com/cry-zone-b-give-us-mark-take-akume/

A hausa proverb says; it is the one you're familiar with that you disrepect; and under rate. A prophet is never respected in his not respected in his fatherland.
FTC first time efa efa!!!

All na political grandam jawe

PEPPERified:
A hausa proverb says; it is the one you're familiar with that you disrepect; and under rate. A prophet is never respected in his not respected in his fatherland.
FTC first time efa efa!!!

Wise saying

It might interest U to know d@ I'm also from d same "Zone B", bit to be honest with U, I d'nt pray or wish for any xchange, d best is been contented with what u hv. See even d Idoma ppl have divided opinion about David Alechenu Mark. I'm surrounded by quite a lot of dem, nd I listen to their grievances. I prefer Akume, but also d facts must be said, he has not done much as most expected of him, remember his influence in government is not any where near d@ of David, who served d country as D no.3 citizen, nd we talking of a simple Minority leader, let me again point out d@ every appointment d@ was engineered by Mark was based on his capacity as d Senate president. Where were d appointments prior to 2007, were are der now d@ he no longer holds d office, if u have never been to Otukpo before I'll encourage U to take a day off nd see d man u wish u had, d only tarred road leads to his House. U know one 4ny thing about d Tiv ppl is d@ we are so divided d@ nd I remember how most of my friends were saying d@ der would prefer Saraki to emerge as Senate president over Akume, when he was still in d race. Nd if memory serve me well, I still remember d@ it was said d@ Akume lost d Seat of D senate President in 2007 because of his own brothers, joining forces with mark to 4str8 his efforts, yet we want him to do all does things. Untill we Tiv ppl learn to stand together nd give our unconditional support to our leaders, be it Akume, Gemade, Suswam, Ortom, not minding d political party, we go continue to complain oh!!!!

See lie
Mark for wetin, leave us with our akume and gamande

Don't even subscribe to any of those sit tight old men, young men should be given a shot