Benue Government denies an Alia defection plot, dismissing claims of a secret meeting with Ayu as fabricated and misleading.
The Benue State Government in Makurdi on 27 November 2025 firmly rejected a report alleging an Alia defection plot, describing the claim that Governor Hyacinth Alia planned to dump the All Progressives Congress for the African Democratic Congress after a supposed secret meeting with former Peoples Democratic Party National Chairman Iyorchia Ayu as entirely fabricated.
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Chief Press Secretary to the Governor Tersoo Kula said the narrative was malicious and intended to distract Hyacinth Alia from his core governance priorities.
Tersoo Kula said the report amounted to a mischievous smear campaign crafted to mislead the Presidency and score selfish political points.
He noted that since taking office, Hyacinth Alia had routinely visited leaders and elder statesmen irrespective of political or religious affiliation, arguing that such visits reflected a liberal and development-driven outlook.
According to Tersoo Kula, these engagements were normal, respectable and aligned with Hyacinth Alia’s inclusive style of leadership.
He stressed that the governor had, in fact, been winning influential figures into the APC.
He cited Third Republic senator Professor David Iornem, Elder David Iorwashima Amo and former Speaker Terhemen Tarzoor among those who had strengthened the party’s ranks.
The statement said these developments represented the true political landscape in Benue State rather than the fiction circulated by what Tersoo Kula called mischief makers.
It added that the government remained committed to building a united and dominant APC.
Tersoo Kula said Hyacinth Alia was prepared to engage even his fiercest political rivals as part of a broader consolidation strategy for the 2027 election cycle, both for his administration and for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
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He urged the public to disregard the concocted report, describing it as a deliberate distraction designed to undermine the party’s rising momentum.
