Prof. Shija Storms Benue, Sends Fear Into Rival Parties, Candidates – By Samuel Adzegeh

By Samuel Adzegeh

There is palpable and widespread excitement in Benue State as the NDC makes final preparations for the official unveiling of Prof. Terhemba Shija as its candidate for governorship in next year’s elections just months away. Shija is to be unveiled alongside his running mate, the young and brilliant Dr. Raymond Edoh and other NDC candidates in what promises to be the biggest political carnival in Benue State since MKO Abiola’s Hope ’93 campaign. The development is already sending shockwave of fear and apprehension among rival parties and their candidates.
Shija, a literature Professor and university lecturer is a much educated, widely traveled politician and one of the most charismatic politicians Benue Statd has ever produced, ranking up there with others like JS Tarka, Wantaregh Paul Unongo, Apollos Aper Aku and Chief Obande Obeya.
The very erudent and easy going Professor provide for the people of Benue State an opportunity to put right what unfortunately went wrong in the historical developement of the State since late sage Aku, its mercurial pioneer governor, initiated bold and revolutionary steps to usher the State into the 20th century back in 1979. Despite efforts by several other governors, building on Aku’s legacy somehow failed.
According to Shija, “We have lost it. The Benue of our dreams; the strong, prosperous, modernized and proud State that was envisaged to be the economic hub of the north central region of Nigeria; the State which early rise in 1976 was brightened with good leadership and hope our State which boasts of bountiful human and material resources, creative and scientific brains, courageous people, daring combatants in our armed forces and proud laborers on our rich arable land in the heart of our beloved country. We have lost all these; tragically, we are reduced to the status of the poor, economic and politically marginalized, bereft of necessary dynamicmodern infrastructure.”
Shija asserts that, “Apart from few flashes of hope in the past, Benue State has had a chequered history of development, with its people still very poor. Key industries that could have brought wealth and employment are lacking. In most towns and villages, amenities like electricity, clean drinking water, houses, hospitals and clinics, schools and motorable roads are lacking.”
He also notes that, “Tens of thousands of young Benue indigenes are turned out from universities, polytechnics and other tertiary institutions yearly without corresponding opportunities for employment.”
What has compounded Benue’s underdelopment, and which is uppermost in the mind of the NDC governorship candidate is pervasive insecurity which has caused caused the unfortunate lives of hundreds of thousands of states people, sent millions into IDP camps and further devastated the state, effectively frustrating it’s march to economic development. Shija, in his manifesto, notes that, “In the rural areas, there are frequent herdsmen attacks, invasion of rural communities or villages, frequent internal clashes, inter-state border disputes with neighboring States like like Enugu, Ebonyi, Nasarawa, Cross River and Taraba.”
Prof. Shija remains one if the very few who has long prepared for the governorship of Benue State. His well packaged manifesto not only identifies with pinpoint accuracy the causes of the state’s security challenges and several other factors militating against its development but also suggests workable solutions to these problems.

– Adzegeh is Special Adviser to Prof. Shija