By now, the images from Saturday, 5th of September are still fresh. Otukpo , the political boiling center of Benue South, stood still.
From Ado to Apa, from Agatu to Ohimini, from Oju to Obi, the roads emptied into one direction. Party faithfuls, private individuals, youths, women, students and market women came from far and near. Their mission was singular: to pledge loyalty to Senator Patrick Abba Moro, a man increasingly described as “the bridge and future of Benue South.”
The occasion was the official flag-off of his campaign tagged SAM 27 at the iconic St. Andrews Primary School field. By 9am the field was full. By 11am, the streets leading to it were locked. It was not just a rally. It was a carnival. It was a referendum in motion. Hundreds of thousands turned out.
Rt. Hon. Chief George Ali, a seasoned politician, former member of the Benue State House of Assembly and two-time Chairman of Otukpo LGA, captured the mood best. He called it “an affirmation that the Senate Minority Leader remains unrivaled in Zone C.”
“This is not rented crowd. This is not stomach infrastructure crowd. This is people who have seen representation,” he told a roaring audience.
And that is the crux of the matter. After eight years in the Senate, Senator Moro has built a reputation as a voice that speaks for the minority, not just in Benue but across Nigeria. In a zone that has felt the sting of exclusion under the current state administration, that voice now sounds like survival.
Senator Moro’s return bid is being fiercely opposed on two fronts.
First, a fractured Benue APC led by Governor Hyacinth Alia, which believes 2027 is the time to break PDP’s decades-long hold on Zone C.
Second, the ADC, now rebranded as a coalition of aggrieved men from APC and PDP who think the moment to reset Benue South politics has arrived.
Despite the massive show of force in Otukpo, the opposition insists it has the war-chest and political capital to ease-out the Minority Leader. Immediately after the rally, their media handlers went to work. “It was just crowd,” they posted. “Wait for the ballot.”
But politics is also about optics, and the optics from St. Andrews were damning for them.
Then came Sunday, 6th of September, just 24 hours later. The ADC and its faithfuls converged on the private residence of their national leader, former President of the Senate, Senator David Mark.
To PDP watchers, it looked like panic. To neutral observers, it looked like damage control. The message was clear: “PDP has bounced back in Benue South, and we must respond.”
But the response raised more questions. Eyewitnesses described the crowd as scanty. There were also reports of internal skirmishes, with loyalists feeling shortchanged in the new ADC arrangement.
The crisis went public when one of the party’s grassroots mobilizers and new media director from Ogbadibo resigned in a viral letter, citing “diversion of campaign funds and insensitivity to the electorate’s plight.”
For a party that rode in on the promise of a new political order, that resignation was a bad advertisement.
Beyond party colors, the real issue driving Zone C politics today is marginalizatio.
On the campaign ground, Senator Moro put it plainly: since the Alia Government assumed office, Benue South has been treated as sub-humans who have been denied infrastructure, denied appointments, denied a seat at the table of state governance.
“If the state government has abandoned us, then I am prepared to assume the position of the Governor of Benue South despite being a lawmaker,” he said.
The crowd erupted. It was not just rhetoric. It was an articulation of pain. In villages across the 9 LGAs, people are asking: what have we gained from this government? Why are our roads worse? Why are our sons and daughters not represented?
That question is why the Otukpo crowd was not just about Senator Moro. It was about Zone C reclaiming relevance.
Since 1999, Benue South has been an exclusive enclave of the PDP. The party built schools, attracted federal projects, and produced leaders who spoke for the zone at the highest levels.
Many believe the decision to experiment elsewhere in recent cycles cost the zone. Now, there is a strong feeling of wanting to “retrace our political root.”
The APC and ADC will argue that money and new alliances can defeat structure. They will campaign hard. They will exploit grievances. But they are up against three things:
First is the Structure. PDP’s ward-to-ward network remains intact in Zone C.
Secondly is the Personality. Senator Moro’s name recognition and Senate ranking give him an advantage no first-timer can match.
Thirdly is Sentiment. The feeling of abandonment has created a rallying point that transcends party.
Politics is not won on the field in September. It is won at the ballot. But elections are also about momentum, and right now, the momentum in Benue South tilts toward the man who filled St. Andrews to the brim.
The opposition is not finished. They will strategize, spend, and try to fracture the PDP base. But as things stand, they are chasing a moving target.
The pain of the majority in Zone C is simple: “We tried something new. It did not work for us. Let us go back to what worked.”
In a few months, the people’s verdict shall shape the future of Benue South.
Chris Ochapa writes from Benue South
