Elders of Kwande Local Government Area in Benue North-East
Senatorial District have described the ‘loaning’ of the senatorial seat
to Governor Gabriel Suswam by the traditional council of the area in the
forthcoming election as a ruse.Recall that Governor Suswam had in July
this year, approached the Kwande traditional council to loan him the
seat to enable him go to the Senate after completion of his tenure as
governor.
The seat said to be under a gentleman’s arrangement, was usually
rotated among the three ancestral blocs of Sankera, Kwande and Jerchira
which make up the seven local governments in the district popularly
known as Zone A and it was the turn of Kwande people to go to the
senate.
However, the present occupant of the seat, Senator Barnabas Gemade, who is from Jechira, is also interested in returning to the Senate for a second term, a development that has generated controversy between him and the governor, since the latter indicated interest to run for the same election.
Speaking during Gemade’s visit to elders of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and stakeholders in Kwande, the elders of the area said the governor was daydreaming over the Senate seat of the zone.
Head of the Nanvev-Shanngev clan, Agua Gbuuka, and his counterpart of Tura-Ikyuraw clan, that make up the Kwande people, while assuring Gemade of their support for his re-election bid, posited that they were not in favour of the loan granted to Suswam to contest the position.
They noted that the governor’s plan to clinch the seat was impossible because the area would not be able to get it back from him (governor) after four years when they would need it.
Speaking earlier, Gemade promised the people that if given the opportunity to go to the Senate a second term, he would retire from active politics in 2019 at the expiration of the tenure, when he would have also turned 70.
He appealed to the people to shun violence and ensure that contestants for the position play the game by the rules and not by the guns.
In another development, Governor Suswam has advised the Nigerian Navy to cooperate with other security agencies in the country to tackle the security challenges ravaging the North- East region.
The governor, who gave the advice at the 2014 Nigerian Navy Small Arms Firing Competition (NNSAFC) held at the 72 Special Forces Battalion, Nigerian Army Range in Makurdi, described the Navy as tireless and vigilant custodians of security of the country’s maritime environment.
Represented by his Deputy, Chief Steve Lawani, the governor noted that the recent rising of insurgency in the North demanded joint action from the armed forces, adding that the Navy had been deployed to assignments outside its traditional operational environment to take up internal security duties.
He urged the personnel of the force not to relent in their efforts in ensuring the security of the country even as he assured that the Federal Government was working assiduously to ensure that past operational handicaps regarding insufficient equipment became a thing of the past.
Earlier, the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Usman Jibrin, explained that the competition was an annual event used to express the service’s commitment to training as a crucial input in the calculation required to deal with exigencies of contemporary operational environment.
However, the present occupant of the seat, Senator Barnabas Gemade, who is from Jechira, is also interested in returning to the Senate for a second term, a development that has generated controversy between him and the governor, since the latter indicated interest to run for the same election.
Speaking during Gemade’s visit to elders of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and stakeholders in Kwande, the elders of the area said the governor was daydreaming over the Senate seat of the zone.
Head of the Nanvev-Shanngev clan, Agua Gbuuka, and his counterpart of Tura-Ikyuraw clan, that make up the Kwande people, while assuring Gemade of their support for his re-election bid, posited that they were not in favour of the loan granted to Suswam to contest the position.
They noted that the governor’s plan to clinch the seat was impossible because the area would not be able to get it back from him (governor) after four years when they would need it.
Speaking earlier, Gemade promised the people that if given the opportunity to go to the Senate a second term, he would retire from active politics in 2019 at the expiration of the tenure, when he would have also turned 70.
He appealed to the people to shun violence and ensure that contestants for the position play the game by the rules and not by the guns.
In another development, Governor Suswam has advised the Nigerian Navy to cooperate with other security agencies in the country to tackle the security challenges ravaging the North- East region.
The governor, who gave the advice at the 2014 Nigerian Navy Small Arms Firing Competition (NNSAFC) held at the 72 Special Forces Battalion, Nigerian Army Range in Makurdi, described the Navy as tireless and vigilant custodians of security of the country’s maritime environment.
Represented by his Deputy, Chief Steve Lawani, the governor noted that the recent rising of insurgency in the North demanded joint action from the armed forces, adding that the Navy had been deployed to assignments outside its traditional operational environment to take up internal security duties.
He urged the personnel of the force not to relent in their efforts in ensuring the security of the country even as he assured that the Federal Government was working assiduously to ensure that past operational handicaps regarding insufficient equipment became a thing of the past.
Earlier, the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Usman Jibrin, explained that the competition was an annual event used to express the service’s commitment to training as a crucial input in the calculation required to deal with exigencies of contemporary operational environment.
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Kwande LG elders kick against Suswam’s senatorial ambition |
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