Benue Government Reacts To Video Of Lawmaker, Agbese Removing Governor Alia’s Portrait

The Benue State Government has reacted to the video of the lawmaker representing the Ado/Okpokwu/Ogbadibo Federal Constituency of the state at the House of Representatives, Philip Agbese, removing the portrait of Governor Hyacinth Alia.

The Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Matthew Abo, on Thursday, described the incident as unfortunate.

Naija News recalls that Agbese, in a video spotted online, was seen removing the portrait of Governor Alia, hung in his office.

Before removing the portrait, Agbese pointed at the portrait of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume, and said, “This is the person we want to see. This is our leader. Of course, he remains the leader of the party; he is the father of the state. He is the leader of the party because he is a man of fairness, equity and justice. And that’s why we love him and he has earned his respect.”

He also pointed at the portraits of President Bola Tinubu, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, and his deputy, Benjamin Kalu, acknowledging each of them as a leader of their party.

However, Agbese pointed at Alia’s portrait and asked, “Whose picture is this?”

The lawmaker who removed the governor’s portrait said, “Today, I officially remove the portrait of this person (the governor) from our office because he is not fit to be a leader. We can’t follow him; if you don’t have respect for democracy, you don’t respect the constitution, you’re not my father, and your picture has no business being in my office.”

He, thereafter, handed the portrait to his secretary to take it away.

Abo, in reaction to Agbese’s action, said it was unfortunate for a party member to remove the portrait of his governor from his office.

Abo said, “We all saw the video on social media but it’s unfortunate that a party member can do that. The governor takes every party member as a member of his family. The interesting thing is that nobody in the state is behind the lawmaker.

“The man is an ingrate.”