…The press conference was a festival of falsehoods

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Benue State watched with utter disbelief the theatrical performance staged by Governor Hyacinth Alia at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, where he attempted to market fiction as reality and propaganda as governance.

The governor’s appearance before the Presidential Press Corps was not a briefing on the state of Benue. It was a desperate image-repair mission by an administration whose failures have become too glaring to conceal from the people.

For a governor whose state is bleeding daily from incessant attacks by armed herdsmen and other criminal elements, claiming that peace has returned to Benue is not merely misleading; it is an insult to the memory of those who have lost their lives and a cruel mockery of thousands of displaced people scattered across IDP camps.

We ask Governor Alia: Is Saai in Katsina-Ala Local Government Area no longer in Benue State? Were the 18 innocent people recently murdered there casualties of the peace he spoke about? What about the recurring attacks in Kwande, Agatu, Gwer West, Guma, Makurdi, Ukum, Okpokwu, Logo and other parts of the state? Are the widows, orphans and displaced families in those communities products of the security success story he advertized in Abuja?

The tragedy of Benue today is not merely the insecurity confronting the people. It is the fact that the governor appears more interested in denying reality than confronting it.

While the Northern States Governors’ Forum and the Northern States Traditional Rulers Council were gathered in Kaduna discussing practical solutions to the worsening security crisis in the region, Governor Alia was busy staging a political show inside Aso Rock.
That singular decision speaks volumes.

At a time when serious leaders are searching for solutions to insecurity, Governor Alia is searching for applause.

At a time when communities are under attack, he is busy polishing his political profile.

At a time when Benue people need protection, he is pursuing public relations.

No wonder the Commander of Operation Whirl Stroke recently acknowledged the support being provided by neighbouring states like Nasarawa and Taraba, while Benue continues to struggle with a security crisis that grows worse by the day, owing to the governor’s refusal to show any form of concern.

Governor Alia also attempted to deceive Nigerians by claiming that salary and pension challenges have become history in Benue State.
Nothing can be farther from the truth.

If salary and welfare issues have been resolved, why are academic staff in state-owned tertiary institutions under the aegis of Academic Staff Unions of Tertiary Institutions in Benue State (ASUTIBS) are currently on strike? Why has ASUU at Moses Adasu University, Makurdi remained on an indefinite industrial action? Why has Law Officers Association of Nigeria (LOAN) Benue State Chapter withdrawn their services? Why have health workers in the state gone on strike, crippling healthcare delivery in state-owned hospitals and primary health centres? Why are judiciary staff on strike? Why did local government workers recently embark on strike?

The governor cannot wish away these realities with carefully rehearsed talking points.

A government that cannot keep its tertiary institutions open, its hospitals functional and its workforce consistently motivated has no moral basis to celebrate imaginary achievements.

Perhaps the most astonishing falsehood of the entire outing was Governor Alia’s claim that he has granted full autonomy to local governments.
This claim collapses immediately upon contact with facts.

Benue people know that local governments in the state have remained financially strangulated since Alia became governor! Communities across the state can attest that councils have been unable to execute projects to reflect financial independence. The governor cannot deceive the people into believing that autonomy exists simply because he says so at a press conference.

Indeed, Nigerians have not forgotten that Governor Alia was among those who vehemently resisted local government financial autonomy until the Supreme Court settled the matter in July 2024. The contradiction is glaring.

The same governor who opposed autonomy now wants to wear the garment of its champion.

What is even more disturbing is that despite unprecedented revenues accruing to states following fuel subsidy removal, Benue remains one of the most underperforming states in the federation.

With hundreds of billions of naira received from the Federation Account over the last three years, Benue should have become a massive construction site with visible projects, improved security infrastructure, thriving agriculture and revitalised public institutions.
Instead, what we see is an administration that excels at press conferences but struggles with performance in reality.

Across the country, governors are deploying resources to acquire security assets, support security agencies, build roads, expand healthcare facilities and attract investments. Benue’s neighbours are making visible progress.
Benue, regrettably, is making headlines for the wrong reasons.

What happened at the Presidential Villa was therefore not governance. It was political advertising paid for with the sweat of Benue people.
More importantly, Alia’s outing exposed the governor’s fear of accountability.

Governor Alia has never subjected himself to a robust, open and unscripted question-and-answer session with the Benue media community. He knows that journalists at home are witnesses to the insecurity, the abandoned communities, the strikes, the economic hardship and the growing public frustration under his administration. He knows they would ask difficult questions that cannot be answered with rehearsed propaganda.

No amount of grandstanding inside Aso Rock can rewrite the painful realities confronting our people. No carefully choreographed media event can erase the blood of innocent victims, reopen closed classrooms, restore confidence in public institutions or put food on the tables of struggling families.

Governor Alia should stop campaigning in Abuja and start governing in Benue State.

History will judge leaders not by the number of microphones placed before them, but by the lives they improved, the communities they protected and the promises they fulfilled.
By that standard, the verdict of the Benue people is becoming clearer by the day.

Signed:

Bright Yima Antyo
State Publicity Secretary
PDP, Benue State
July 9, 2026