{"id":164062,"date":"2025-05-24T23:09:08","date_gmt":"2025-05-24T22:09:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/disquiet-in-benue-apc-as-defection-rumours-swirl-around-governor-alia"},"modified":"2025-05-25T00:13:00","modified_gmt":"2025-05-24T23:13:00","slug":"disquiet-in-benue-apc-as-defection-rumours-swirl-around-governor-alia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/parties\/disquiet-in-benue-apc-as-defection-rumours-swirl-around-governor-alia","title":{"rendered":"Disquiet in Benue APC as defection rumours swirl around Governor Alia"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. <\/strong><\/span>Governor Hyacinth Alia of Benue State has remained silent amid growing speculation that he may defect from the All Progressives Congress (APC) to the African Democratic Congress (ADC).<\/p>\n<p>This comes after the reports of governor\u2019s alleged unexpected absence from a major APC event at the Presidential Villa where President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was officially endorsed as the party\u2019s sole candidate for the 2027 presidential election.<\/p>\n<p>The high-profile event, organised by the APC National Working Committee, was intended to project party unity, but Governor Alia\u2019s late arrival, long after the endorsement had concluded, sparked defection rumours.<\/p>\n<p>A party source who attended the event told this newspaper: \u201cThe endorsement was nearly over and everyone was asking, \u2018Where is Governor Alia?\u2019 We knew he was in Abuja, he even attended the North Central meeting earlier that day. Someone eventually called him, and he rushed down, but by then it was too late.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Insiders now revealed that Governor Alia had conditioned his participation on receiving a dual endorsement: one for Tinubu and another for his own re-election in 2027, a request flatly rejected by party leaders.<\/p>\n<p>In the aftermath, sources confirmed that Alia has intensified covert discussions with ADC leaders, allegedly brokered by former Governor Gabriel Suswam, a former governor of the state.<\/p>\n<p>The development has left the governor\u2019s inner circle fractured, with aides offering contradictory statements.<\/p>\n<p>While some maintain that Alia remains committed to the APC, others acknowledge that \u201cserious consultations\u201d with the ADC are underway.<\/p>\n<p>These developments come against the backdrop of a bitter feud between Governor Alia and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator George Akume, his erstwhile political godfather. Since Alia\u2019s inauguration in 2023, their relationship has deteriorated, splintering the Benue APC into rival factions.<\/p>\n<p>Senator Akume is believed to control more than 80% of the APC\u2019s structure in the state, while Governor Alia operates a parallel executive, having attempted and failed to unseat the APC State Chairman, Austin Agada, a staunch Akume ally.<\/p>\n<p>A Federal High Court in Makurdi ruled on November 28, 2024, reinstating Agada and affirming Akume\u2019s grip on the party machinery.<\/p>\n<p>Party leaders from Benue South are especially critical of the governor\u2019s silence, accusing him of playing a dangerous political game that could cost the APC dearly in 2027.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe in Benue South are not blind to what\u2019s going on,\u201d said an APC chieftain from the zone who asked not to be named.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGovernor Alia is playing hide and seek with the APC. His body is in the party, but his heart is clearly somewhere else. He should stop pretending and come clean with the people who voted for him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He added: \u201cYou cannot demand loyalty from the party while flirting with those determined to destroy it. If Alia is done with the APC, he should have the decency to say so.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So far, Governor Alia has neither confirmed nor denied the swirling defection rumours.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe governor\u2019s silence is loud,\u201d said a political strategist in Makurdi.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd in politics, silence at a time like this is often the clearest confirmation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, an aide to the governor told our reporter that the story is untrue, as the governor was present during the meeting.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere is nothing like that. The government will issue an official statement soon to put the lies making the rounds to rest,\u201d said a source who spoke on condition of anonymity, as he was not authorised to comment publicly.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Nigeria<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. Governor Hyacinth Alia of Benue State has remained silent amid growing speculation that he may defect from the All Progressives Congress (APC) to the African Democratic Congress (ADC). This comes after the reports of governor\u2019s alleged unexpected absence from a major APC event at the Presidential Villa where President Bola Ahmed Tinubu [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":164060,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,16],"tags":[9994,34,331,254],"class_list":["post-164062","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-parties","tag-alia","tag-apc","tag-benue","tag-nigeria"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Disquiet in Benue APC as defection rumours swirl around Governor Alia - Nigeria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Governor Hyacinth Alia of Benue State has remained silent amid growing speculation that he may defect from the All Progr ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/parties\/disquiet-in-benue-apc-as-defection-rumours-swirl-around-governor-alia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Disquiet in Benue APC as defection rumours swirl around Governor Alia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Governor Hyacinth Alia of Benue State has remained silent amid growing speculation that he may defect from the All Progr ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/parties\/disquiet-in-benue-apc-as-defection-rumours-swirl-around-governor-alia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-05-24T22:09:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-05-24T23:13:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/05\/sm_1748115814.436988.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"796\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/parties\/disquiet-in-benue-apc-as-defection-rumours-swirl-around-governor-alia#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/parties\/disquiet-in-benue-apc-as-defection-rumours-swirl-around-governor-alia\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Disquiet in Benue APC as defection rumours swirl around Governor Alia\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-05-24T22:09:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-05-24T23:13:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/parties\/disquiet-in-benue-apc-as-defection-rumours-swirl-around-governor-alia\"},\"wordCount\":595,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/parties\/disquiet-in-benue-apc-as-defection-rumours-swirl-around-governor-alia#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/05\/sm_1748115814.436988.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Alia\",\"APC\",\"Benue\",\"Nigeria\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Parties\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/parties\/disquiet-in-benue-apc-as-defection-rumours-swirl-around-governor-alia#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/parties\/disquiet-in-benue-apc-as-defection-rumours-swirl-around-governor-alia\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/parties\/disquiet-in-benue-apc-as-defection-rumours-swirl-around-governor-alia\",\"name\":\"Disquiet in Benue APC as defection rumours swirl around Governor Alia - Nigeria\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/parties\/disquiet-in-benue-apc-as-defection-rumours-swirl-around-governor-alia#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/parties\/disquiet-in-benue-apc-as-defection-rumours-swirl-around-governor-alia#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/05\/sm_1748115814.436988.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-05-24T22:09:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-05-24T23:13:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"Governor Hyacinth Alia of Benue State has remained silent amid growing speculation that he may defect from the All Progr ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/parties\/disquiet-in-benue-apc-as-defection-rumours-swirl-around-governor-alia#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/parties\/disquiet-in-benue-apc-as-defection-rumours-swirl-around-governor-alia\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/parties\/disquiet-in-benue-apc-as-defection-rumours-swirl-around-governor-alia#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/05\/sm_1748115814.436988.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/05\/sm_1748115814.436988.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":796,\"caption\":\"Disquiet in Benue APC as defection rumours swirl around Governor Alia\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/parties\/disquiet-in-benue-apc-as-defection-rumours-swirl-around-governor-alia#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Disquiet in Benue APC as defection rumours swirl around Governor Alia\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/\",\"name\":\"Africa Press | Nigeria | Homepage\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/author\/cfeditoren\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Disquiet in Benue APC as defection rumours swirl around Governor Alia - Nigeria","description":"Governor Hyacinth Alia of Benue State has remained silent amid growing speculation that he may defect from the All Progr ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/parties\/disquiet-in-benue-apc-as-defection-rumours-swirl-around-governor-alia","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Disquiet in Benue APC as defection rumours swirl around Governor Alia","og_description":"Governor Hyacinth Alia of Benue State has remained silent amid growing speculation that he may defect from the All Progr ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/parties\/disquiet-in-benue-apc-as-defection-rumours-swirl-around-governor-alia","og_site_name":"Nigeria","article_published_time":"2025-05-24T22:09:08+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-05-24T23:13:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":796,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/05\/sm_1748115814.436988.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/parties\/disquiet-in-benue-apc-as-defection-rumours-swirl-around-governor-alia#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/parties\/disquiet-in-benue-apc-as-defection-rumours-swirl-around-governor-alia"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Disquiet in Benue APC as defection rumours swirl around Governor Alia","datePublished":"2025-05-24T22:09:08+00:00","dateModified":"2025-05-24T23:13:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/parties\/disquiet-in-benue-apc-as-defection-rumours-swirl-around-governor-alia"},"wordCount":595,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/parties\/disquiet-in-benue-apc-as-defection-rumours-swirl-around-governor-alia#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/05\/sm_1748115814.436988.jpg","keywords":["Alia","APC","Benue","Nigeria"],"articleSection":["all news","Parties"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/parties\/disquiet-in-benue-apc-as-defection-rumours-swirl-around-governor-alia#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/parties\/disquiet-in-benue-apc-as-defection-rumours-swirl-around-governor-alia","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/parties\/disquiet-in-benue-apc-as-defection-rumours-swirl-around-governor-alia","name":"Disquiet in Benue APC as defection rumours swirl around Governor Alia - Nigeria","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/parties\/disquiet-in-benue-apc-as-defection-rumours-swirl-around-governor-alia#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/parties\/disquiet-in-benue-apc-as-defection-rumours-swirl-around-governor-alia#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/05\/sm_1748115814.436988.jpg","datePublished":"2025-05-24T22:09:08+00:00","dateModified":"2025-05-24T23:13:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"Governor Hyacinth Alia of Benue State has remained silent amid growing speculation that he may defect from the All Progr ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/parties\/disquiet-in-benue-apc-as-defection-rumours-swirl-around-governor-alia#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/parties\/disquiet-in-benue-apc-as-defection-rumours-swirl-around-governor-alia"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/parties\/disquiet-in-benue-apc-as-defection-rumours-swirl-around-governor-alia#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/05\/sm_1748115814.436988.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/05\/sm_1748115814.436988.jpg","width":1200,"height":796,"caption":"Disquiet in Benue APC as defection rumours swirl around Governor Alia"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/parties\/disquiet-in-benue-apc-as-defection-rumours-swirl-around-governor-alia#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Disquiet in Benue APC as defection rumours swirl around Governor Alia"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/","name":"Africa Press | Nigeria | Homepage","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/author\/cfeditoren"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164062","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=164062"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164062\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/164060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=164062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=164062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=164062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}