Suswam's Hand In The Alia V Akume & Alia V Ortom Wars

By Richard Abagen

Facts painstakingly gathered reveal a Machiavellian role being played by former Benue State Governor and immediate past Senator for Benue North-East District, Gabriel Suswam in the ongoing wars involving Governor Hyacinth Iormem Alia and SGF George Akume on one hand and the governor and his immediate predecessor Samuel Ortom on the other.

Impeccable sources avail that Suswam as things stand now is the de facto chief strategist to Governor Alia and it is the defeated Senator who fashion every move made against both SGF Akume and ex Governor Ortom.

Suswam's game plan is motivated from a feeling of deep seated anger and a desire for revenge against both Akume and Ortom who in 2015 wielded state power in Benue and used it to hunt him through a series of probes, court cases and an arrest and 73 days detention by the DSS.

His anger was further made worse by his failure to make it back to the Senate for a second term at the last elections where he was defeated by Barrister Emmanuel Udende, a defeat he accuses Ortom of masterminding through his loyalists in the Zone A Senatorial District.

It was therefore an opportunity too good to be missed when Suswam perceived a rift between Governor Alia and his god-father, SGF Akume immediately the former came to power, and also showed an appetite to go after Ortom.

Sources close to the former two term member of the House of Representatives disclose that he relishes the idea of Ortom having a taste of the same medicine he gave to him in 2015, and has actively encouraged Governor Alia not to relent in his persecution of the immediate past Governor.

Suswam's strategy consists in making SGF Akume see him as a mediator in the rift between him and the incumbent Benue State Governor, but in reality he is making sure that the two remain at daggers drawn.

In dealing with Ortom, Suswam has deployed a two pronged strategy of keeping Alia on the offensive against him, and has at the same time given his supporters the green light to rubbish the immediate past Governor's image in the media.

The persistent and steadily rising boldness of the official Media Aide to Suswam, Bede Bartholomew in attacking Ortom on the social media attests to this assertion, as it is commonsensical to reason that without Suswam's go-ahead, non of his Aides will just on their own embark on a smear campaign against Ortom who is the Leader of PDP in the state.

While the lawyer turned politician who governed Benue from 2007 to 2015 and is hailed as the proverbial cat-with-nine lives may pride himself as being Machiavellian in his manoeuvres around power corridors, his hand in the Alia/ Akume and Alia/ Ortom wars is already badly exposed and there can be no hiding it anymore.