Kwankwaso Said a Governor Was "Brought From the Church" by His Political Godfather, and Benue Did Not Let That Slide

Let's start with the line that actually broke the internet on this one. Rabiu Kwankwaso, discussing Benue Governor Hyacinth Alia's ongoing beef with SGF George Akume, said the quiet part very loudly: "Akume brought him from the church. I don't think he was a politician. I never heard his name." And when a reporter asked, just to be sure, whether he meant Alia specifically, Kwankwaso didn't even blink: "Oh yes, big mistake."

That's not political commentary anymore, that's a full performance review, delivered live, unprompted, about a sitting governor's entire career origin story.

Kwankwaso didn't stop there either, he also dragged in Peter Obi's recent visit to Benue, calling the whole disruption around it "unfortunate and unnecessary" and accusing Alia of "acting out of desperation."

Naturally, Benue was not going to just receive that quietly. Governor Alia's Chief Press Secretary, Tersoo Kula, came out swinging, calling Kwankwaso's comments an "unfortunate and unwarranted insult" and telling him, essentially, to sit down: "face Kano politics." Kula's version of events was that Obi was actually "sneaked into Benue without proper coordination," and that Kwankwaso then falsely blamed Alia for the chaos his own principal's team allegedly created.

Kula also reached for the one card guaranteed to end an argument in Nigerian political discourse: reminding everyone that Alia is "a Reverend gentleman" who was "elected by the people of Benue," so the mandate deserves respect, thank you very much. And for the finishing touch, Kula brought up Kwankwaso's own party's rough outing in recent Kano by-elections, which is the political equivalent of saying "fix your own house first."

Funniest part of all? This exact Alia-Akume feud was publicly "resolved" back in 2024, complete with a traditional ruler, a handshake, and an embrace. So really, we're just watching season two.