President Tinubu has ordered a delay for the big reconciliation meeting meant to end the fighting inside Benue’s All Progressives Congress chapter. The session was set for April 30, 2026. It will now happen on the first Sunday in May, on home ground in Benue. Organizers want every local player in the room when they sign what they’re calling the Benue Accord.
The Proposed Peace Pact: A Power-Sharing Compromise
People close to the mediation say the two sides are looking at a power-sharing deal to make peace hold. Governor Hyacinth Alia, the Catholic priest turned politician, would get the party’s automatic ticket for the 2027 gubernatorial election. That assurance would let him concentrate on pushing his administration’s agenda through the legislature.
In return, Senator George Akume, the party’s leader in the North-Central zone, would receive major sway over who gets picked to run for National Assembly seats. The arrangement would strengthen their bloc in Abuja while leaving the governor in charge of the state executive.
The split between the two men opened up almost immediately after the 2023 general elections. Their long-standing alliance collapsed over control of the party apparatus. The main flashpoints were clear.
OBSERVERS TIMES. Reported that Friction first surfaced during the election of the Speaker of the Benue State House of Assembly. The governor’s candidate defeated the one backed by the party’s mainstream faction. The fight for overall control then fractured the State Working Committee after the state chairman was suspended. Later, the governor dissolved the elected local government councils and replaced them with caretaker committees. That decision left many party loyalists feeling frozen out of grassroots decisions.
For months the two camps have hurled public accusations back and forth. The mainstream side calls the governor dictatorial. His supporters accuse their rivals of practicing godfatherism and trying to hold state resources hostage.
Tinubu’s intervention looks necessary. Benue remains a key state in the North-Central zone. A broken party there could wreck the region’s planning for the 2027 elections. The administrative gridlock from the infighting has also started to eclipse the state’s pressing security problems. By telling the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and the governor to settle their differences without more delay, the president is drawing a line: internal bickering cannot be allowed to damage governance or stability in the region.
