ALIA’S DESPERATE ATTEMPT TO REWRITE HISTORY, SMEAR DANGOTE AND AKUME IS RECKLESS, DISHONEST AND UNACCEPTABLE

…Benue governor eyeing cement factory acquisition with business partners

We condemn in the strongest terms the reckless and misleading comments by the Governor of Benue State, Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Alia, regarding the privatization of the Benue Cement Company (BCC) in 2006 and his desperate attempt to pin responsibility for the transaction on former Governor George Akume while casting aspersions on Alhaji Aliko Dangote with his company.

Governor Alia’s latest outburst is yet another example of a government that has become addicted to propaganda, revisionism and the politics of blame. Faced with mounting questions about his own stewardship, the governor appears determined to divert public attention by manufacturing controversies and attacking individuals whose records and contributions are already part of Nigeria’s documented history.

The facts are clear. Benue Cement Company was privatized under a Federal Government programme implemented through the Bureau of Public Enterprises. The suggestion that Senator George Akume personally sold BCC to Aliko Dangote is a distortion of history and a deliberate attempt to mislead unsuspecting members of the public. No amount of political grandstanding can alter the facts contained in official records.

It is astonishing that a governor who has access to government files and public records would choose to promote a narrative that collapses under the slightest scrutiny. This raises a disturbing question: is Governor Alia genuinely ignorant of the facts, or is he deliberately twisting them to pursue a political agenda?

Even more disturbing is the governor’s attempt to demonize one of Africa’s foremost investors and industrialists. Aliko Dangote did not seize Benue Cement Company in the dead of night. The transaction emerged from a nationally supervised privatization process that involved regulatory institutions of the Federal Government. If Governor Alia has evidence of wrongdoing, he should present it to the appropriate authorities. If he has none, he should stop maligning people to score cheap political points.

We are not surprised by Governor Alia’s utterances because credible findings suggest that his sudden agitation for a review of the 2006 sale of Benue Cement Company to Dangote has little to do with protecting the interests of Benue people. It has everything to do with advancing his personal political and business agenda.

Having allegedly amassed enormous wealth from state resources within just three years in office, the governor is now said to be eyeing Benue Cement, now Dangote Cement, as another lucrative asset to be captured for the benefit of himself and a circle of business associates, including Bauhaus Global Investment, which has emerged as the preferred contractor for major government projects in the state since Alia became governor.

The real motive behind this campaign is becoming increasingly clear. Governor Alia is reportedly nurturing a 2031 presidential ambition and understands that such a venture would require access to massive financial resources running into hundreds of billions of naira. Should he retain office beyond 2027, he reportedly intends to use every available lever of state power to position himself for that race. In that calculation, Dangote Cement is seen not as a private investment that has transformed a moribund government enterprise into a thriving business, but as a potential cash cow that can be exploited to bankroll a future presidential campaign.

Benue people must therefore look beyond the governor’s emotional rhetoric and ask hard questions. Why is a transaction that took place two decades ago suddenly attracting his attention at a time when the state is battling insecurity, a growing humanitarian crisis, failing infrastructure and widespread economic hardship? The answer may well lie in a desperate attempt to gain control of a strategic asset whose enormous financial value could serve personal political ambitions rather than the collective interests of the people of Benue State.

The people of Benue are not interested in political theatre. They are interested in security, roads, healthcare, education, agriculture, job creation and economic growth. They are interested in how hundreds of billions of naira accruing to the state are being utilized. They are interested in why communities continue to suffer attacks and displacement. These are the issues demanding the governor’s attention, not a calculated campaign to rewrite events that occurred decades ago.

We therefore challenge Governor Alia to immediately publish all documents in his possession relating to the privatization of Benue Cement Company and allow the public to judge the facts for themselves. The era when political leaders could manufacture narratives without scrutiny is over.

The governor should stop chasing shadows, stop misleading the public and stop dragging respected Nigerians into politically motivated controversies.

Signed:
Jerome Zoho
President, Coalition for Truth and Justice (CTJ)