I left pastoring to reposition Benue, says APC governorship candidate

Hyacinth Alia, the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Benue, says he forfeited his role as a pastor because he wants to reposition the state.

Alia, a Catholic priest, said this during the unveiling of his strategic blueprints at a press briefing held in Makurdi, the state capital, on Sunday.

Alia said if elected governor of the state, he would focus on securing lives and property, adding that he would ensure Benue regains its credibility as the “food basket” of the nation.

“I have a good cause to step out from the podium (pulpit) to do what I am doing because our state is in a bad shape. We have a responsibility to bring betterment to our state,” he said.

“Benue is too rich to be poor, to do anything less will be not to appreciate what God has done for us. My government will be centred on seven pillars – the foremost is to secure lives and property.

“When you have wrong people in government, the result is wrong.  When you play by the principle of transparency, everything works.

“The green revolution will make us come alive as it was in 1983 when Benue was indeed known as the ‘food basket’. The present government in the state has perforated the food basket. Nyesom Wike of Rivers state bears testimony to all states saying President Muhammadu Buhari provided everything a state needs, so why is Benue different?”

In May, TheCable reported that Alia was suspended by the Catholic diocese of Gboko for joining the 2023 governorship race.

The Catholic church, at the time, had said its canon forbids its clerics from being involved in partisan politics.

“The Mother Church does not allow her clerics to get involved in partisan politics on their own Ex Can. 285, 3 CIC,” the church said. 

“You are aware that my son, your brother and your priest, has purchased the party forms to contest for the office of the governor of Benue state under the All Progressives Congress (APC), which is totally against our vocation.

“Therefore, to respond to the spiritual and pastoral needs of the Church in the Catholic Diocese of Gboko, I have suspended him from the exercise of the sacred ministry.”