Politics
WHY 2027 MAY BE PDP’S EASIEST BENUE VICTORY YET
By: Aondoakaa Tersugh Daniel | 04/06/2026
Benue State has a political record that deserves more honest attention than it usually receives. Three gubernatorial elections stand out, not because they were routine contests, but because they were fought at moments when the stakes went far beyond who would occupy the Government House in Makurdi. In 2003, the PDP faced down a strong ANPP challenge and won. In 2011, the ACN came with considerable momentum and the PDP held. In 2019, in what remains perhaps the most ideologically charged election the state had seen in years, the PDP defeated the APC under circumstances where the outcome carried a meaning that ordinary ballot arithmetic alone could not capture.
What connects those three victories is not campaign funding or party structure, at least not primarily. What connects them is something the Benue electorate appeared to understand at a gut level at each of those moments: the PDP candidate was, whether perfectly or imperfectly, standing between the state and forces that had no interest in Benue’s survival as a territorial and human reality. Voters did not simply choose a party. They chose a shield. That is a distinction worth sitting with.
The configuration going into 2027 is not new. It is, to a degree that should unsettle anyone paying attention, a near replication of the exact conditions that produced those three victories. And this is where the commentary has to be direct.
The allegation that Governor Hyacinth Iormen Alia received substantial Fulani sponsorship ahead of the 2023 election, on an informal understanding that their settlement on Benue land would be facilitated, remains unproven. No court has established it, and fairness requires that distinction to be stated plainly. But what requires no court is what has been happening in Benue communities under this administration.
Under former Governor Samuel Ortom, the herdsmen attacks were vicious and frequent, but they followed a pattern of strike and retreat. The attackers came, killed, and left. There was no lingering. Under Alia, something in the character of these attacks has changed in a way that is difficult to explain away. Communities are not merely raided anymore. They are emptied. People are not just killed. They are displaced, and then the land they fled is occupied. The attackers are staying. They are settling. And the man whose constitutional duty it is to stop all of this has stood before cameras and described what is happening as mere skirmishes, denying with apparent comfort that genocide is taking place inside his own state. That is not a political disagreement. That is a moral catastrophe delivered in a press statement.
That posture alone recreates the precise condition that pushed Benue voters toward the PDP in every previous difficult election: a leading candidate whose relationship with the enemies of Benue territory was, at the very best, one of suspicious ease.
Chief Michael Kaase Aondoakaa SAN enters this race carrying two arguments simultaneously, and both of them are strong. The first is the territorial argument just described. The second is less dramatic but equally felt by ordinary people: the Benue civil service is in a state of near collapse. The bureaucracy is paralysed and the basic machinery of governance is grinding rather than running. This political argument that does not need embellishment.
The arithmetic of Benue political history points in one direction. Every time the conditions aligned to make the PDP the obvious defender of Benue interests against external threat or internal abandonment, the PDP won. The conditions in 2027 are not merely similar to those moments. They are, in critical respects, starker. The administrative failure is not a campaign claim. It is four years of lived reality. The state’s indifference to mass killings and occupation is not a rumour. It is documented in satellite images, funeral photographs, and the testimonies of the displaced.
The PDP does not need to invent a crisis to campaign on. The crisis is already governing the state. And if the Benue pattern holds, and this particular pattern has not broken once in the three elections that mattered most, then 2027 may not be the party’s most gruelling fight. It may, quietly and almost without precedent, be its most straightforward one.
By Abigail David
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) says it froze the bank accounts of the Osun State Government to prevent the alleged diversion of public funds, stressing that the action was based on an ongoing investigation and not the forthcoming August 15 governorship election.
In a statement shared on its official X account, the anti-graft agency said it had been investigating the Osun State Government since March 2026 over the alleged handling of about N11 billion in Ecology Funds, Intervention Funds and Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) allocations.
The EFCC said several state officials, including the Accountant General, had been questioned as part of the investigation. It added that while the probe alone did not warrant freezing the accounts, it detected what it described as suspicious transfers of funds beginning on August 2.
According to the commission, large sums were allegedly moved from government accounts into several corporate accounts, prompting it to place a Post No Debit order to prevent further transactions.
The EFCC maintained that it has a legal responsibility to safeguard public funds and said it could not ignore suspicious financial activities because of the impending governorship election. It also stated that other state governments are under financial scrutiny as part of its broader accountability efforts.
The commission urged Nigerians to disregard what it described as false narratives about the account freeze, insisting its actions were non-partisan and aimed at protecting public resources.
The statement followed criticism from Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke, who described the account freeze as illegal and challenged EFCC Chairman Ola Olukoyede to publicly justify the decision. Adeleke also directed the state’s Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Oluwole Jimi-Bada (SAN), to challenge the action at the Federal High Court in Osogbo, arguing that the EFCC requires a court order before freezing government accounts.
By Abigail David
Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma has responded to comments by Afrobeats star David Adeleke, popularly known as Davido, over the upcoming Osun State governorship election, saying the singer should direct his appeal to Osun voters rather than him.
Davido had urged an unnamed Imo politician during a press conference on Wednesday to allow a free and fair election in Osun, citing reports of alleged plans to interfere with the August 15 governorship poll. Although he did not mention Uzodimma by name, he called for peace and urged that voters be allowed to choose their preferred candidate.
In a statement issued on Thursday by his Senior Special Assistant on Electronic and Creative Media, Ambrose Nwaogwugwu, Uzodimma dismissed the appeal and predicted that Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke would lose his re-election bid.
The governor claimed that many voters were dissatisfied with the current administration and would support the APC candidate in the election.
Uzodimma also advised Davido to focus on preparing his uncle, Governor Ademola Adeleke, for life after office instead of making public appeals. He added that the singer might have to “sign his uncle as a dancer” after the election, expressing confidence that the electorate would vote for a change in leadership.
The exchange comes ahead of the August 15 governorship election, where Governor Ademola Adeleke is seeking a second term in office.
By Abigail David
The Osun State Government says it will challenge the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in court after alleging that the anti-graft agency froze the state’s bank accounts.
The state’s Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Oluwole Jimi-Bada, said on Wednesday that Governor Ademola Adeleke had directed him to file a suit at the Federal High Court over the development.
According to Jimi-Bada, the EFCC issued a “Post No Debit” directive to First Bank, where the state’s accounts are domiciled. He argued that while the commission has the power to investigate financial records, freezing government accounts requires a court order.
He said the action could disrupt government operations but expressed confidence that the matter would be resolved through the courts. Jimi-Bada also maintained that state funds were not being used to finance Governor Adeleke’s re-election campaign.
The Commissioner for Finance, Sola Ogungbile, also alleged that police officers visited the main branch of First Bank in Osogbo and arrested some bank employees. He urged the EFCC to consider the potential impact of the account restrictions on governance and residents.
Earlier on Wednesday, Governor Adeleke alleged that the EFCC was planning to freeze the state’s accounts and those of top government officials ahead of the August 15 governorship election. He described the reported move as unlawful and claimed it was intended to disrupt government activities before the poll.
The EFCC had not publicly responded to the allegations as of the time of this report.
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