Governor Hyacinth Alia of Benue State thought he had won because his candidates swept the APC National Assembly primaries in May, defeating the loyalists of Senator George Akume, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF). The results were announced, and the race looked settled. Then Abuja intervened.
The APC’s National Working Committee overturned the primary results entirely, replacing seven of Alia’s winning candidates with Akume’s preferred incumbents and submitting the revised list to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
To understand why the echoes of this turnaround have been getting louder and louder, it is important to capture the nucleus of the matter. Akume is one of the most powerful political figures in Benue, a veteran senator and current SGF serving directly under President Bola Tinubu. It was Akume who sponsored Alia’s transition from Catholic priesthood to Government House in 2023.
The alliance did not survive Alia’s inauguration. The governor blocked Akume’s cabinet nominees, shut out his candidate for Speaker of the State Assembly, and built his own independent structure. By early 2026, the two men were running parallel APC executives in the same state.
