Benue State Governor Hyacinth Alia walked out of a closed door meeting with President Bola Tinubu with a specific promise attached: the state intends to double its support for his 2027 re election bid, even as internal APC friction simmers in the background.
Speaking to reporters afterward alongside former Governor Gabriel Suswam, Alia said the ruling party remains united in Benue despite agitation following the state’s primaries, describing the unrest as temporary and expressing confidence that Tinubu, as a democrat who understands these processes, would help keep the party together as one family built through shared effort.
The meeting itself covered ground beyond politics. Alia briefed the president on Benue’s security situation, reporting real improvement after months of violent attacks, and said Tinubu asked specifically about displaced residents, whether those returning home still carry anxiety, and how the state is managing security around the current planting season, a pointed question given Benue’s role as the country’s food basket. Alia described the overall security picture as relatively calm and expressed optimism that the trend will continue. He thanked Tinubu for attending the recent Benue at 50 celebration, where the president inaugurated the state’s fruit concentrate factory, with a beer factory and a fruit juice processing plant still awaiting their own openings, and noted that First Lady Oluremi Tinubu had separately inaugurated ten urban renewal roads built by his administration during her own visit. Alia said the meeting gave him a chance to update the president more broadly on governance and development in Benue, leaving him confident the state is heading toward greater stability and growth.
