Suswam, Tarzoor in a relay of excellence

By Philip Agbese
One is finally having cause to heave a sigh of relief with the emergence

of Prince Terhemen Tarzoor as the People Democratic Party (PDP)

governorship candidate for Benue state from the primary conducted on

Monday December 8th, 2014. The relief of course has to do with that

reassurance that the achievements of the outgoing governor, Gabriel Suswam

will be sustained by his successor.
The term successor is used here with all sense of confidence contrary to

the barrage of misinformation making the rounds as to the true state of

affairs in Benue state, particularly in the wake of electioneering process

around parties' primaries. The tales that has been spread outside of

Benue state around the country give the impressions that are at best

misleading and often laughable since elections are not won by stridently

repeating falsehood.
As opposed to what naysayers are peddling, the administration of Suswam is

leaving behind achievements that will make Prince Terhemen Tarzoor's

election a walk over given the positive impact it has made on the lives of

Benue citizens. In education, agriculture, healthcare, security,

employment creation and boosting investor confidence, Tarzoor has an array

of projects he can use to brag about his would be predecessor's

achievement and a basis for which his party, the PDP, should be elected in

the February elections to continue running the affairs of the state.

Confirmation that the duo would successfully work as a team is already a

reality with Tazor picking the Commissioner for Works and Transport, John

Ngbede, as his running mate. This is the hallmark of a political family

that is able to reach decisions amicably without unnecessarily heating up

the polity. This is what gives one that assurance that Benue state is

guaranteed a seamless transition in the aftermath of the elections.

A Tarzoor governorship is also certain to guarantee the completion of

on-going projects initiated under the Suswam governorship since government

is a continuum. The same can be said of the growth oriented policies of

the outgoing administration. These facts must be borne in mind by Benue

people as they head for the polls since the trend has shown the penchant

for people oriented projects to be ignored or completely abandoned when

there is a change of political parties at the helms of affairs. When this

happens there is the resulting cost to the state as the amount already

expended on the projects are lost or the gains from policies are truncated

once discontinued.
The need to avoid such bleak future is already glaring given the manner of

campaign emanating from those who lost out to Tarzoor at the primary. They

are not just satisfied with defecting but have embarked on a campaign of

actively working to confuse the people as well as confuse the issues.

Instead of coming up with campaign messages that address issues, they have

resorted to name calling and manipulation of information with the sole

intention of brewing disaffection ahead of an imminent Tarzoor win in the

coming weeks. Such tantrums, coming from people who could not win

primaries in their original political parties, should ordinarily be

dismissed with a wave of the hand but is important to set the record

straight so that Benue people get to know what they should really be

talking about.
Fortunately for Benue state, the PDP is strongly on ground and Tarzoor

should be taking oath of office come May 29. Those who are allergic to

this truth are apparently behind the fables being woven about the

party's dwindling fortune in that state. Such inaccuracies being peddled

are likely the outcome of frustration that derive from the realisation

that the defections from the PDP to lesser known political parties were

tactical errors that are now being rued.
The decision by Suswman to continue serving Benue people by running for

Senate has further confounded these defectors. Being in the Senate

strategically places the outgoing governor in a position to consolidate on

his achievements as he will be able to influence national legislations in

ways that strengthen his successor's quest for economic growth for the

state.
While Suswam would be returning to familiar turf in the National Assembly,

he has demonstrated, with his eight years of service as governor of Benue

state that experience garnered from one arm of government usually proves

useful in the other arm. This perhaps explains the team spirit behind the

tandem race that Suswam and Tarzoor are running in the interest of Benue

state. Tarzoor, like Suswam has had his sojourn in the state assembly and

has also occupied leadership positions as a former lawmaker and must thus

understand the intricacies that his predecessor daily deals with.

These two great men have committed to running this relay race on behalf of

the people of Benue state, the least that can be done for them is to

ensure that they record such resounding victories at the polls that they

would not need to deal with any future distractions in relations to the

mandates that the people are poised to give them. The state and the lots

of its people will be better for it.
Comrade Philip Agbese is a social crusader and contributed this piece from

Abuja.
Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN
The post Suswam, Tarzoor in a relay of excellence appeared first on Pointblank News .