Group accuses Akume of breaching Benue Govt House security, writes Tinubu
Security sources have explained that the Secretary to the Government of the Federation Senator George Akume breached the security of the Benue Government House when he went there over the weekend to meet the state governor, Reverend Father Hyacinth Alia.
This is coming just as details of what transpired between the Secretary to the Government of the Federation Senator George Akume and the security team at the Benue State Government House in Makurdi were uncovered.
Recall that some media influencers working for the former governor had at the weekend written on their various Social Media Pages that Senator George Akume was barred from entering the government house during a meeting which was scheduled between him and Governor Hyacinth Alia few days ago.
The aborted meeting was on the order of President Bola Tinubu during his last week’s visit to Makurdi where he instructed both Alia and Akume to meet together to find a lasting solution to the ongoing massacres in Benue State.
Meanwhile, a dependable security source at the Government House told Nigerian Concord Newspaper at the weekend that Senator George Akume wasn’t barred from entering the Government House for his scheduled meeting with Governor Hyacinth Alia.
According to the source, Senator Akume came to the Government House on that fateful day with more than fifty heavily armed security operatives both in uniform and mufti with high-calibred firearms and other sophisticated weapons.
It was learnt also that the SGF was forcing his security men who came in a Toyota Coaster Bus on the security personel at the gate of the Government House. “Some of them were even wearing face masks which partially covered their faces and that wasn’t proper at this time when insecurity is the order of the day in Benue state” the source noted.
“But on getting here, we gave a warm welcome to the SGF based on his position in the country and also for the fact that we had been briefed that morning that he would be coming to have a meeting with the governor. His name was already on the list of the VIPs that would be meeting the governor that day but we humbly requested that his security men should stay at a place where security details of VIPs normally stay anytime they want to meet with the governor.
“Senator George Akume didn’t agree even as we told him that allowing him to go and meet with Governor inside his lodge with more than fifty security men with some of them wearing face masks would amount to a security breach on the Governor. Can we call that a peaceful meeting with the governor when he was coming with over fifty masked and unmasked security men with sophisticated firearms.
“Despite that we let him know that no one can enter Government House with firearms and also that there is a point where all security men with firearms will stop, Senator George Akume still didn’t listen.
“He (SGF) didn’t agree. He insisted that all his security guards must follow him with their firearms, and this prompted our Oga (CSO) to politely meet him , begged him and made him see reasons why his security men couldn’t go in with him for the meeting with the Governor. The CSO even told him that the Government House had enough security to cover him throughout his meeting with the governor but he didn’t listen.
“At that point, Senator Akume rushed into his car, threatening that he would not go inside the Government House to meet with the governor who was eagerly waiting at his Lodge to receive him if his security men numbering about fifty plus wouldn’t go in with him”
According to findings, the security men of the SGF were bullying the government house security guard to the extents that the governor’s CSO had to wade in.
According to the source, the SGF left the Government House with his entourage including the masked and unmasked security men when he was unable to get them an access to the Governor’s lodge even though he was told that he could enter with his Ordely.
Meanwhile, Benue Defenders for Democracy, BDD has condemned Senator Akume’s action which the group described as a way to further cause insecurity in the state.
The group in a press statement obtained by their newspaper this morning said that it was not Akume’s duty to meet with the Tor Tiv and Och’Idoma since it was Governor Hyacinth Alia that the president instructed to do so.
BDD in the statement by its PRO, Mr. Anthony Apine condemned the security breach with the SGF caused at the Government House when he reportedly went there with more than fifty masked and unmasked security men with firearms just to have a meeting with the governor.
The group asked Akume to tell the world that he didn’t have a plan to eliminate the governor with the security breach which was bravely aborted by the Government House security guards.
The group also explained that the SGF should explain to the world why he has been begging some traditional rulers in the state to join hands with him to push for a State of Emergency in Benue state.
“We have it in a good authority that the SGF, after the Tor Tiv went against an Emergency Rule during the last Town Hall Meeting with the president, has been begging some monarchs and quarter Chiefs to help him push for a State of Emergency with a false claim that there won’t be peace in Benue for as long as Alia remains governor. How come Akume has never visited any of the affected parts of Benue until the president said he was coming”
The group also accused the SGF of bringing in thugs and militia members to create more insecurity in the 23 local governments just to make the state look unsafe.
Also, BDD accused the SGF of paying militia to attack people in all the Markets in the state as a way to further heighten insecurity in the state.
BDD however called on President Bola Tinubu to remove Akume from the process of restoring peace back to Benue as he is the one sabotaging all efforts by the governor to ensure peace, safety and security of the people. “We also want the president not to believe Akume’s claim that it was the governor that refused to let him come in for the meeting as he (Tinubu) had instructed” the group said.
BDD also asked security agency to question a former chairman of All Progressive Congress in Benue state, Mr. Austin Agada to explain what he was doing at the scene where about fifteen passengers were abducted in Okpokwu local government yesterday.
Anthony Apine said: “Let’s agree that it was part of the security issue which Benue is facing but what is Agada, a close ally of Senator Akume doing at the scene of the abduction at that particular time. Can we assume that he was part of the plot and he was there then to raise an alarm as it was reported in some newspapers this morning.
“Why is it that it’s only Agada that was at the scene. Why is it that he was the one that called the police and local hunters if not that it was pre-planned. Should we agree to earlier reports that Agada is the one coordinating the attacks on the people of Benue South”