Benue Assembly rejects Gov Alia’s nominee over denigrating social media post against Tiv tribe
On Thursday, the Benue State House of Assembly declined to confirm one Vincent Gisaor, who had been nominated by Governor Hyacinth Alia for membership in the Benue State Independent Electoral Commission.
The nominee was rejected by members of the Assembly for allegedly insulting the Tiv tribe via a post on his Facebook page.
Gisaor was one of the eight nominees for the state electoral commission submitted for screening a few days ago.
The other nominees are Dr John Chen (Chairman), Theodore Uchi, Terhemen Shom, Solomon Deva, Peter Ogagbolo, Edache Isaac and Gloria Clement.
At a plenary session on Thursday, a member of the House, representing Konshisha State Constituency, Cephas Dyako called the attention of his colleagues to a Facebook post made by Gisaor prior to his nomination.
Dyako pointed out that the nominee, in the Facebook post, made derogatory remarks about the entire Tiv ethnic group in the state.
Dyako told the House that: “Mr Gisaor said in Tiv dialect ‘your nyash’ to all the Tiv people in his post, which I find very derogatory from a person of his standing.”
Dyako said one person who commented on Gisaor’s Facebook post advised him to delete the post and apologise but he refused to do so.
When asked to defend himself, the nominee explained that he met an elderly woman during a fight between the Yarev and Ikparev people of Tyo-mu in Makurdi and it was the woman who insulted the Tiv people while talking to him.
“I was merely quoting the woman but the recording I made of the woman’s reply to me when I asked what caused the fight, unfortunately, got deleted from the post,” Gisaor stated.
However, the lawmakers refused to buy Gisaor’s explanation as they all agreed that the nominee was not fit to hold such a public office and urged the House not to confirm his nomination.
Ruling, the Speaker, Hyacinth Dajoh, said the nominee never quoted anyone while making the post, so it was assumed that it was his opinion.
The Speaker, therefore, asked the governor to nominate another person in place of Gisaor.