Benue council polls: Ortom moves to settle zoning controversy

Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State has called for a meeting of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, stakeholders and council chairmanship aspirants for discussions bothering on resolving issues of zoning and peaceful conduct in the forthcoming local government elections in the state.

Benue State Independent Electoral Election (BSIEC) has fixed 29 and 30 January, 2020 for the local government area council elections in the state.

It is believed that Ortom is calling for the meeting to resolve all the pending issues of zoning in the state, particularly in all the council areas of Benue Zone C in which the governor had received various petitions from the affected communities/wards and subsequently instituted a peace committee.

Ogbadibo Local Government Area of the state is one of the councils where disagreement in zoning has raised tension and likely crisis among the people of Owukpa community.

The zoning disagreement among the PDP members in the community arose from the refusal of the caretaker chairman, Honourable Prince Onuh to step down from the chairmanship race for the people of Itabono Ward 1 that are next on the line to produce the Council chairmanship candidate contrary to an existing zoning pattern.

A committee to look into the disagreement had earlier been instituted at the instance of the Governor who has been emphasising on absolute respect for zoning in the council elections but its report is yet to be made public.

The case of Ogbadibo, according to political stakeholders is a special one as the people of Owukpa, in particular, are known in the state for peaceful political dealings. The three communities that make up the local government (Otukpa, Owukpa and Orokam) practice a non-negotiable zoning arrangement and the same is being upheld even in the forthcoming council elections. This is why the council chairmanship slot has been zoned to Owukpa at the council level.

But analysts believe that the heated disagreement coming from the community where the current local government chairman, Honourable Vincent Amuche hails from is not only disappointing but dangerous.

Political watchers believe that the caretaker chairman, Hon. Onuh is a brother-in-law to the current party chairman in the local government, and the community is perceiving alleged strong collaboration between them.

It’s yet to be seen if Governor Ortom can amicably resolve the matter by fairly insisting on the zoning arrangement or will be left at the mercy of political ambitions of the gladiators.