Alia Removed Me As Speaker For Refusing To Move Tor Tiv Palace From Gboko To Ihugh – Dajoh …Alleges public funds were deployed to remove Chief Judge

Former Speaker of the Benue State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Aondona Dajoh, has made alleged that Governor Hyacinth Alia removed him from office after he refused to support the plan to relocate the Palace of the Tor Tiv from Gboko, the traditional headquarters of the Tiv Nation to Ihugh, the governor’s hometown in Vandeikya Local Government Area.

Dajoh made the allegation on Saturday during activities marking his 50th birthday celebration at Akpagher Mbatiav in Gboko Local Government Area of the state.

Speaking before a gathering of political associates, traditional leaders, family members and supporters, the former Speaker stated that his opposition to the attempt to move the revered Tor Tiv Palace from its ancestral location in Gboko, deeply angered Governor Alia who immediately swung into action and ousted him.

According to Dajoh, Governor Alia personally conveyed the relocation proposal through an official communication, which he immediately rejected.

“Governor Alia sent a letter to me directing that I should relocate the Tor Tiv Palace from Gboko to his community, Ihugh. I rejected the idea. I told him that he wanted to kill me. This was one of my biggest offenses,” Dajoh said.

He further alleged that following his refusal, influential figures within the governor’s inner circle told him pointedly that his speakership would not survive such resistance.

“When I rejected the idea of moving the Tor Tiv Palace to the governor’s hometown, Moses Ternenge, (one of the two most powerful men around Governor Alia), told me that if I rejected the proposal, I should consider that as the end of my speakership,” he alleged.

Dajoh also accused Governor Alia of deploying public resources in what he described as a failed attempt to remove the Chief Judge of Benue State, Justice Maurice Ikpambese.

The former Speaker claimed that over N200 million was allegedly expended in the process.

In a further swipe at the governor, Dajoh referenced a statement allegedly made by Alia during a 2023 pre-election political event in Jemgbagh, where the governor declared that anyone who oppressed the people of the area would be afflicted with madness.

Dajoh argued that the governor had himself gone against the interests of the Jemgbagh people through a series of political decisions.

“It was on this soil that Alia stood and said anybody who beats the Jemgbagh people will be inflicted with madness. But Alia has beaten Tor Jemgbagh, Ter Gboko, taken the Jemgbagh Speaker to another zone, beaten their sons, so he has been inflicted with madness,” Dajoh declared.

Responding, the Chief Press Secretary to the Benue State Governor, Tersoo Kula described the allegations as not only fase and fabricated but as an “Aondona Dajoh’s Cocktail of Conspiracy Theories and Unfounded Accusations Against Governor Alia.”

Kula stated that “What Dajoh presented at Mbatiav could best be described as a cocktail of conspiracy theories, unfounded accusations, outright falsehoods and reckless claims.

“His allegations are not only false and misleading, but they also expose troubling questions about his stewardship as Speaker and his understanding of the constitutional powers and limitations of the Benue State House of Assembly.”

He noted that his claim that Governor Hyacinth Alia wrote to him as Speaker asking him to relocate the Palace of the Tor Tiv from Gboko to Ihugh is entirely blatant falsehood, baseless and imaginary.

“We demand to know why such a correspondent from the Executive was not read on the floor of the House as procedure demands. Benue State House of Assembly was not Dajoh ‘s private establishment, any such letter sent to the Assembly from the Executive cannot be turned down by the fiat of a Speaker.

“So, we challenge Dajoh to make public the letter he alleged the Governor sent to him to relocate the Tor Tiv Palace to Ihugh.”

He queried how anybody would write such a letter when the Benue State House of Assembly lacks constitutional authority to relocate the headquarters of a traditional institution such as the Tor Tiv Palace.

He also addressed claim that he was given N200 million to remove the Chief Judge of the state calling on him to explan where he took the money to, and who were the beneficiaries of the “bribe” money?

On the Wurukum – Renewed Hope Estate, Angbaaye village road contract, Kula noted that Governor Alia has been very transparent in all his dealings with the people of Benue State saying the contract in question, Wurukum – Renewed Hope Estate located after Angbaaye village, few kilometres to Abinsi, is a federal highway and it is to be constructed with specific standards for federal highways which is stone-based as approved by the Ministry of Works and Transport.

“Governor Alia sought and got approval from the federal government to undertake the reconstruction of the road for the good of the people of the state. It is no longer a single lane road but dual carriage up to Angbaaye.

He explained for that that the distance when combined is over 40km and also includes a five-span bridge at River Mu.

He urged residents to ignore the allegations as they are mere fabrications to tarnish the Governor.