Has Emmanuel Jime Recovered?

By Iorliam Shija

A quiet but consequential political drama unfolded on the 6th or 7th of December 2014 at the IBB Square in Makurdi. A thick web of conspiracy had been woven against Rt. Hon. Emmanuel Jime, one he tried earnestly to overcome. But to properly understand that moment, one must revisit the events that began in the 2011 gubernatorial elections in Benue State.

In the build-up to that election, Senator George Akume who had left the PDP for the ACN in December 2010 sought a formidable challenger to stop Gabriel Suswam’s second term bid. He found one in a US-based professor, Steve Torkuma Ugbah. Until Ugbah’s entrance, it seemed unthinkable that anyone could stand against Suswam.

 Then came that electrifying chant: “Ugbah nyor, shor chenji!” In no time, Professor Ugbah became a political sensation. All anti-Suswam forces rallied around him. Though the race was fiercely contested, Suswam eventually secured his second term victory, an outcome widely believed in Benue to have been rigged. Since both Suswam and Ugbah hailed from Sankera, their 2011 political battle aligned conveniently with the zoning arrangement at the time.

By 2015, however, the dynamics had changed, though Ugbah and his loyalists seemed unaware. Zoning now favoured the MINDA geopolitical bloc, and both PDP, the ruling party, and the newly formed APC presented their strongest aspirants from that zone. In the APC, the leading contenders were Rt. Hon. Emmanuel Liambee Jime, Dr. Akange Audu, and the late Senator JKN Waku who were all from MINDA. Yet, still buoyed by his 2011 momentum, Prof. Ugbah from Sankera purchased the APC nomination form to run again.

If anyone had been diligently preparing since 2012 for the 2015 governorship race, it was Emmanuel Jime. He began in the PDP but, sensing better prospects in the emerging mega-party APC, defected and became a key pillar, mobilising structures, empowering coordinators, and strengthening the party across the state.

But on the day of the APC primaries at IBB Square, everything changed. The Akume political family appeared resolved to stop Jime. Their preferred aspirant was Dr. Akange Audu. Yet before they even settled into the exercise, an obstacle emerged: Professor Ugbah, whose name had been omitted from the list, secured a court injunction to halt the primaries. He presented it to party officials, but they dismissed it and proceeded with preparations.

As voting commenced, reports indicated that Jime was heading for a landslide victory over Akange Audu. With Senator Akume away in Lagos for the APC presidential primaries, his lieutenants scrambled to find a way to halt the unfolding outcome. And then someone remembered the very injunction that had earlier been ignored. That was the first major blow, the first coup against Jime.

Meanwhile, on 8th December 2014, after APC’s primaries ran into a deadlock, the PDP conducted its own primaries. Rt. Hon. Terhemen Tarzoor emerged the winner, defeating two heavyweights, His Excellency Steven Lawani, who came second, and Samuel Ortom, who placed third. Suswam’s hostility toward Ortom during the campaigns made it obvious to many that Ortom had been rigged out. And though Ortom had a Plan B, few believed that Plan B involved defecting to the APC.

Yet by 11th December 2014, Senator Akume had returned to Benue and convened key stakeholders at his Judges Quarters residence where the group endorsed Samuel Ortom as APC’s governorship candidate. Those of us who supported Ortom were stunned. Within just three days, he had somehow left the PDP, joined the APC, purchased the nomination form, campaigned, and secured the ticket.

If we, Ortom’s supporters were shocked, imagine what Jime and his team felt. Eleven years have passed since that dramatic political earthquake. Yes, in 2019 Jime had another opportunity to challenge Ortom. But the question remains:

Has Emmanuel Jime truly recovered from the shock of December, 2014?