12/08/2026
THE ARK IS BIGGER THAN THE OARS: THE EMINENT DANGER CONFRONTING ALIA’S APC IN 2027
The story of Noah and his three sons - Shem, Ham and Japheth contains a timeless lesson about the fragility of unity after a shared ordeal. They endured the same deluge, occupied the same Ark and eventually emerged together into an altered world. Yet surviving the same catastrophe did not guarantee enduring harmony.
That imagery offers a striking political parallel to the unfolding situation within the Benue APC as 2027 draws closer.
The men and women who contributed to the emergence of Governor Hyacinth Alia did not come from unrelated political worlds. They travelled the same arduous political road, confronted formidable adversaries, endured bruising contests and made significant sacrifices before the APC eventually secured power in Benue. They boarded the same political Ark.
But the eminent danger confronting Governor Alia's APC may no longer lie principally outside the party. It may be festering within the vessel itself.
The increasingly palpable impression is that the captain has become preoccupied with determining who should hold the oars, whilst alienating some of the very passengers who once helped navigate the treacherous waters.
Governor Alia's political ascendancy was not a solitary accomplishment. It was fashioned through an intricate coalition of personalities, political structures, relationships and supporters.
Those who stood beside him when victory remained uncertain helped mobilize support, construct alliances and withstand formidable opposition.
Yet the political atmosphere has become increasingly acrimonious, with former allies finding themselves on opposing sides of consequential political disputes.
More troubling is the apparent erosion of the space for reconciliation. Some of Governor Alia's close political allies have already resorted to judicial processes in challenging decisions associated with the party's leadership. Once political disagreements migrate from private consultations and internal negotiations into formal litigation, the character of the conflict changes profoundly.
It becomes institutional.
It becomes public. And it becomes considerably more difficult to contain.
Litigation is, of course, a legitimate avenue for resolving political grievances within a democratic system. Nevertheless, its emergence within a governing party may also indicate that conventional channels of political accommodation have become exhausted, ineffective or distrusted.
The danger is considerable: political exclusion may metamorphose into factionalization; factionalization may harden into litigation; and litigation may ultimately crystallize into electoral fragmentation before 2027.
Governor Alia must therefore confront an uncomfortable political truth: before becoming captain, he was once a passenger.
He once needed alliances. He once depended upon political stakeholders. He once required the structures, relationships and commitment of people prepared to navigate difficult political waters alongside him.
Leadership should cultivate magnanimity, not political amnesia.
Meanwhile, ordinary Benue citizens remain preoccupied with insecurity, economic hardship, unemployment and the lack of transparency in governance. They did not entrust their mandate to political leaders for interminable factional quarrels or internecine warfare.
The APC therefore faces a consequential choice before 2027: continue along the path of confrontation and fragmentation, or summon the political sagacity required to repair its fractured relationships.
But if reconciliation has already been exhausted and political grievances have entered the institutional and judicial arena, Governor Alia's challenge has become considerably more formidable.
The Ark is bigger than the oars.
And if the captain continues fighting those who once helped steer the vessel, the greatest danger to Alia's APC in 2027 may not be the storm outside.
It may be that the passengers, having exhausted every avenue of persuasion, begin preparing their own lifeboats.
Comr Akende Edmond Aondona
Public Affairs/Political Analyst
Akeeior - Utange, Ushongo LGA.
