The Commissioner for Finance in Benue, David Olofu, has said that the Idoma nation has a good chance of producing a governor for the North-Central state in 2023.

Mr Olofu stated this while interacting with journalists on Sunday in Makurdi.

The Idoma, second most populous ethnic group in the state after the Tiv, have never produced a governor since the state was created out of the then Benue Plateau State in 1967. The position has been an exclusive preserve of the Tiv group that constitutes the majority.

But the commissioner told journalists that with the nomination of Benson Abounu as Idoma’s consensus candidate in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the long time dream was appearing possible.

“The people are on the right track. We are getting it right. There has never been a time the Idoma people were as united and sincere in their agitation like this.

“Since 1999, this is the only time Idoma people unanimously produced one candidate for PDP primaries. There is hope for us as a people and I pray it eventually ends in praise,” Mr Olofu said.

He advised his Idoma kinsmen to heed to the advice of Governor Samuel Ortom by continuing to lobby the Tiv stakeholders for a possible understanding before the primaries.

The late Aper Aku was Benue’s first civilian governor, while Moses Adasu governed the state when civilian givernance returned in 1991. In 1999, George Akume was elected governor and was succeeded by Gabriel Suswam in 2007.

Mr Ortom, the current governor, took over from Mr Suswam in 2015 and would be expected to handover to a successor at the expiration of his two terms of four years each in 2023. All the five governors of Benue hailed from the Tiv nation.

(NAN)