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In what appears to be the final chapter of a long-brewing political realignment in Benue State, Governor Hyacinth Alia has reportedly begun the process of decamping from the All Progressives Congress (APC) to the African Democratic Congress (ADC). Sources close to the government house confirmed that the governor on Tuesday evening held a closed-door meeting lasting over two hours with Senator Dr. Iyorchia Ayu at the senator’s residence on Nyesom Wike Road, Makurdi.
The meeting comes barely 24 hours after former Governor Atiku Abubakar, the 2023 presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), formally registered as a member of the ADC in his Adamawa hometown. Senator Ayu, a former National Chairman of the PDP and one of the most influential political figures from the North-Central zone, is also in Benue to collect his own ADC membership card, further fueling speculation that a powerful coalition is being assembled ahead of future elections.
Insiders say Governor Alia’s planned defection is now only a matter of timing. Across the state, his allies have quietly begun forming local government executive committees under the ADC platform while orchestrating mass defections from the APC. The move is widely seen as a deliberate message to Atiku Abubakar and the national leadership of the ADC that Alia remains a formidable force with substantial grassroots followership in Benue despite recent attempts to undermine him.
The governor’s frustration with the APC has been building for months. Political observers point to his recent order to demolish President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s 2023 campaign office in Makurdi as symbolic of his determination to dismantle the APC structure in the state before exiting. That demolition, carried out with heavy security presence, was described by Alia’s camp as “clearing the debris of a party that no longer aligns with the interests of Benue people.”
While the governor has yet to make a public announcement, the choreography of events (the Ayu meeting, the simultaneous registration of high-profile figures into ADC, and the aggressive mobilization across the 23 local government areas) leaves little doubt that Benue’s political landscape is on the verge of a seismic shift.
If the defection is formalized, it will mark one of the most high-profile exits from the APC since President Tinubu took office and could trigger further exodus in the North-Central region, where grievances over marginalization have been mounting.
For now, all eyes are on Makurdi as Governor Alia prepares what his allies describe as “the mother of all political statements” in the coming days.
