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In a blistering rebuttal issued Wednesday night, Comrade Daniel Onjeh, the 2023 APC senatorial candidate for Benue South, has torn into Senator Abba Moro’s recent allegation that Governor Hyacinth Alia harbors hatred for the Idoma people, describing the claim as “ill-informed, malicious, and deliberately crafted to inflame needless ethnic tension.”
Onjeh, a former PRODA chairman and prominent Zone C voice, argued that the facts on ground completely demolish Moro’s narrative, pointing to Governor Alia’s unprecedented inclusion of Idoma sons and daughters in the state’s most strategic positions within just two years, far more than the previous PDP administration managed in sixteen.
“No leader who dislikes a people would hand them the ministries of Finance, Education, Water Resources, Information, Women Affairs, and even the office of Head of Service,” Onjeh fired. “These are the engines of government. If Governor Alia wanted to marginalize Idoma people, he would not have placed our best brains at the very heart of his administration.”
He went further to highlight massive infrastructure projects already underway across Benue South, including the rehabilitation of Oju-Achooho Road, Igumale-Agila Road, Otobi Water Works, the 36-km Aliade-Mbakine-Obarike Ito corridor, and several other road projects cutting across Oju, Agatu, Ado, and the entire zone.
Onjeh also reminded the public that Governor Alia’s prompt payment of long-overdue salaries, gratuities, and pensions has put money directly into the pockets of thousands of Idoma families, boosting local economies more than any previous administration.
Perhaps most telling was Onjeh’s revelation of a three-hour phone conversation he personally held with Governor Alia while the governor was abroad, during which over 90 percent of the discussion focused on the development priorities of Benue South and how to fast-track them.
“That single conversation alone shows the depth of Governor Alia’s commitment to our zone,” Onjeh stressed. “Add the regular engagement between the governor and the Deputy Governor, himself an Idoma son, on zone-related matters, and it becomes laughable to suggest any form of hostility or neglect.”
The statement has sparked a wave of support across Benue South, with many describing Moro’s claim as desperate politicking ahead of future elections. As the political temperature rises, one thing is clear: the Alia administration’s record of inclusion and development in Zone C is proving a hard narrative to attack with mere rhetoric.
