Plots by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume to change the name of Governor Hyacinth Alia and all the State House of Assembly candidates that were elected during All Progressive Congress primaries in May have been uncovered.
According to investigation, the SGF has submitted names of his preferred candidates both for Governorship and House of Assembly to the National Working Committee of the ruling party ahead of the official announcement of the party in July.
Just last night, it was uncovered that Senator George Akume had a secret meeting with the National Chairman of the All Progressive Congress, Professor Nentawe Yilwadta who was accompanied by the party’s National secretary at his Maitama residence in Abuja where he told them that Governor Alia must not be announced as the governorship candidate of the party in Benue state.
This newspaper findings showed that Senator Akume has submitted the name of the embattled Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Shippers Council, Mr. Pius Akutah to the APC National Working Committee through the national chairman, Professor Nentawe Yilwadta as his preferred candidate to fly the party’s flag as its gubernatorial candidate in 2027.
The source noted that Governor Hyacinth Alia emerged winner of the APC governorship primary held in May 2026, polling 367,786 votes against Terwase Orbunde’s 3,247 votes.
It was also gathered that Akutah is being backed by the former Ooni of Ife’s wife, Queen Zaynab Ngohemba who Akume married early this year. Findings showed that Akutah funded the marriage ceremony of the SGF and his new wife, Zaynab with NSC funds.
Flanked by the Minister of Interior, Bunmi Tunji Ojo, the SGF stated that he won’t fold his arms and allow the governor take charge of Benue State for another four years.
Alternatively, Senator George Akume submitted twenty names of his preferred House of Assembly candidates to Professor Nentawe Yilwadta with a strong instruction that they must be announced as the party candidates for their various state Constituencies.
According to sources who are privy to details of the meeting, Senator Akume presented names for all the State House of Assembly seats in Benue Northwest, Sankera axis, and part of Benue South, leaving the seats from Jechira axis and a small part of Benue South including Otukpo for Governor Hyacinth Alia.
According to Akume, he will use his dominance in the State House of Assembly to undermine and frustrate the governor in case he manages to get the party’s governorship ticket after persuasion from the Presidency.
It was reliably gathered that Senator George Akume as part of his strategic partnership with the People’s Democratic Party in Benue state has a second option which is to present weak candidates in APC for the State House of Assembly elections so that the opposition party, PDP will have the majority in the House with an aim to use them to checkmate Father Hyacinth Alia in case he wins his reelection.
However, it was gathered that Senator Akume has 60% input in the selection of State House of Assembly candidates in the People’s Democratic Party so that he can use them to tackle Alia’s second tenure in office.
Furthermore, Akume plans to use his weak candidates in APC to weaken the chances of Governor Hyacinth Alia at the polls in case the party eventually hands him the governorship ticket. He also replaced the Governor’s Senatorial candidate, Sen. Gabriel Suswam, who emerged through the primaries and enjoys overwhelming support of the people across Benue State.
A source said if the Governor is not allowed to pick his own Senator and House of Reps candidates, it may greatly weaken his reelection chances which is exactly what the SGF is pushing. The source concluded by saying that Akume wants to totally destroy the APC in Benue State because he has nothing at stake.
Another source confirmed that the SGF replaced his estranged wife, Regina Akume, with his younger brother, Godwin Dajoh, for the House of Representatives ticket for the Gboko/Tarka Federal Constituency. The source further stated that this was done on the instructions of his new wife that he snatched from the Ooni of Ife. According to the source, if not for the intervention of Governor Alia, Mummy Regina was already on her way back home.
Recall that Akume had in May planted loyalists Michael KAASE Aondoakaa, former Attorney General of the Federation in PDP, Mathias Byuan in Labour Party, and Prof. Sabastine Hon, SAN in SDP in partnership with former Governor Samuel Ortom just to weaken the governor’s reelection chance.
On his own, the Minister for Interior, Mr. Bunmi Tunji Ojo told Professor Nentawe Yilwadta that he doesn’t want his state governor, Mr. Lucky Ayedatiwa to have any say in the next Assembly in the state so as to stop his plans to get a reelection as governor of Ondo State in 2028.
It was gathered by this newspaper and its media partners that a whooping N1billion was earmarked for this project, and N500million has been paid to Professor Nentawe Yilwadta in US Dollars as part payment. The balance of N500million is expected to be paid also in US Dollars this evening.
According to findings, the SGF and his team led by Senator Titus Zam bribes the national chairman with a whooping N500million to change the authentic list of the party’s National Assembly candidates from Benue State.
Another source revealed that Senator George Akume has been collecting Government contracts worth billions of Naira from all the MDAs under the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and some state governors including the governor of Nasaarawa state just to secure enough funds for his planned 2031 presidential ambition.
Recall that a leadership tussle between Governor Hyacinth Alia and Senator George Akume began shortly after the governor assumed duties in 2023 and the SGF made a proposal that he should be paid N2billion and his wife, Regina Akume a member of the House of Representatives be paid N300million every month from the state allocations.
According to findings, Governor Hyacinth Alia rejected the proposal, saying that he couldn’t use state funds which are meant to develop the state to oil the purses of Senator George Akume and his wife, Regina.
In a related development, an advocacy group, Benue for Good Governance has called on President Bola Tinubu to review the just released National Assembly candidates list, noting that the people of Benue are not ready to vote for Senator Emmanuel Udende, Senator Titus Zam and some of the House of Representatives members because they have performed poorly with a bad representation since they were elected.
The group through a press statement signed and made available to Journalists in Abuja by its Secretary, Dr. Philemon Unongo, PhD said that this will also affect the chance of the president to win Benue State during the presidential election and voters may choose to vote for the opposition candidates if the list isn’t reviewed.
The group urged President Bola Tinubu to revert to the original list where those that were elected by local politicians to fly the flag of the party at the general elections.
