By Winnie Onu, Makurdi
The alleged exclusion of Tiv members from the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council has triggered a political backlash in Benue, with the Hembe/Abba Gubernatorial Campaign Organisation warning that the development could cost the ruling party the support of Tiv voters in 2027.
The organisation said the omission was not an oversight but a deliberate political signal that the Tiv people were being taken for granted by the APC ahead of the 2027 presidential election.
In a statement signed by Sir Peter Vande, the group said the recently released campaign council list had raised serious questions about the place of the Tiv in the political calculations of the ruling party.
“This is not an oversight. This is a message, and every Tiv person, every Benue son and daughter, must read it correctly,” the statement said.
The organisation argued that the Tiv had made significant contributions to Nigeria’s unity and development and therefore deserved meaningful inclusion in national political structures.
It cautioned that political support should not be taken for granted, saying the failure to give the Tiv adequate representation could influence the community’s electoral choices in 2027.
The group drew an analogy from a Tiv story about girls who were ambushed by young men seeking to elope with them, but one girl who was not being pursued returned home shouting, “mba zendan se”, meaning “they are chasing after us.”
“Let no one mistake the Tiv people for that girl. We are not the unsought-after tribe running home with false alarm,” it said.
Describing the Tiv as Nigeria’s fourth-largest ethnic group, the organisation said the people had “shed blood and sweat for the unity of this country” and deserved to be courted rather than treated as “a bystander invited only when convenient.”
The group also questioned what level of political representation Benue could expect if President Bola Tinubu won the 2027 presidential election, given what it described as the current exclusion of Tiv APC members from the campaign council.
It said Rt. Hon. Herman Iorwase Hembe remained committed to the welfare, security and political interests of Benue people, insisting that fair representation should be a key consideration in determining political loyalty.
“The arithmetic does not add up, and the intentions are becoming harder to disguise,” the organisation said.
It warned that the APC could not expect automatic loyalty or votes from the Tiv if the party continued to disregard their demand for meaningful representation.
The organisation consequently urged Benue voters to consider the African Democratic Congress (ADC), whose presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, it described as more familiar with the concerns of the Tiv and Benue people.
It further claimed that an Atiku/Amaechi administration would restore the Tiv and Benue to a stronger position in Nigeria’s political affairs.
The group ended its statement by declaring that the Tiv were not “mba zendan se” and would instead support a political platform where they believed they would be genuinely courted and represented.
