A professor in the department of History and international Studies, Federal University of Lafia, Professor Wilfred Uji, said the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator George Akume’s manifest destiny has conferred on him the mantle of leadership as a National Statesman who transcends the petty and local issues of primordial sentiments in Nigeria.
Speaking to Tribune Online on Sunday in Lafia, while congratulating Akume on his homecoming to celebrate his 70th birthday, Professor Uji said it is arguable that Senator Akume has come to occupy the same national equivalent status of past leaders in Nigeria such as Late JS Tarkaa and Sir Aminu Kano.
Tribune Online authoritatively gathered that since Akume’s appointment as the SGF by President Tinubu six months ago, he has not visited Benue, his home state.
Akume, born on December 27, 1953, hails from Wannune Tarka Council Area of Benue State.
The Benue-born professor added that there is no SGF in Nigeria’s politics history with the collosal image that Senator Akume imposes on Nigeria political landscaping.
“Akume is simply politically magnificent and enduring. Against this background, Senator George Akume homecoming should be likened to a kind of euphoria and outburst of emotion that South Africa celebrated the triumph of Nelson Mandela from political tribulations.
“Akume is a heroe of democracy and the torch of political liberty for ethnic minorities in Northern Nigeria. He symbolizes the triumph of the dreams and struggles of minority groups for freedom and liberty in Nigeria against the tides of the three domination of the three dominant ethnic groups of Nigeria, Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo.
“He is the expression of hope, the evidence of the future of ethnic minority. One day, shall be the President of Nigeria. The Homecoming Celebration should transcend political party affiliation, religious and ethnic affiliation. Akume is the celebration of the triumph of Benue State, a victory for minority struggle, for all and sundry, not just a few chosen elites.
“Above all, the All Progressives Congress should see the homecoming as a platform to unify all of Benue state’s sons and daughters behind the dream of a greater minority rule in Nigeria. The APC should extend the fanfare of celebration to all political groups, beyond the narrow walls of the party, to even dissidents and foes alike,” Professor Uji noted.
The Professor of Social and Economic History also said there are few persons in the political history of the Middle Belt of Nigeria who have reached and witnessed the height and honor achieved by Senator George Akume.
“Since 1999, for over twenty years, Senator George Akume has remained in the corridor of Political power and authority, in one form or the other, from one height to the other.
“After eight years of being the Governor of Benue State, George Akume became the Senator for Benue State Zone B for twelve years in which he also held the exalted position as the Senate Minority Leader under Bola Tinubu as the National leader of the All Congress of Nigeria (ACN).
“The SGF demonstrated rare triumph when in the face of retirement from politics by Governor Samuel Ortom, he still rose to become the Minister for Special Duties and InterGovernmental Affairs, a position that he held last before his appointment as the Secretary to the Government of the Federation by President Bola Tinubu.
“There is hardly any politician of Middle Belt Origin, and Northern Nigeria in particular, who has such towering profile like Senator George Akume who has enjoyed an unbreakable twenty four years of being saddled in the seat of Political power and fame with all of the attraction and benefits of the public offices that he occupied.
“Senator George Akume’s political history is written in gold as a rare public figure who since 2007, has been very pivotal and instrumental as to who occupied the seat of Government House in Makurdi as the Governor of Benue State.
“He has almost single-handedly installed every successive Governor in Benue State from Senator Gabriel Suswam, 2007 to 2015, Governor Samuel Ortom, 2015 to 2019, and the incumbent Governor, Hyacinth Alia,” the Don said.
Professor Uji called on the people of Northern Nigeria, particularly Benue state, to give the SGF the desired support to succeed.
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