Benue 2023: Igede media group insists on power shift, denies endorsing Akase

A group under the aegis of Association of Igede Media Professionals (AIMP) has denied its reported endorsement of the former Chief Press Secretary to Governor Samuel Ortom, Mr Terver Akase for the 2023 governorship contest in Benue state.

According to the group, which insists that power should shift to the Zone C area of the state in 2023, it had never come in contact with Mr Akase or any other aspirant for the office of governor to have warranted any endorsement.

AIMP, in a statement issued to Blueprint by its president, Egena Sunday Ode, observed that the job of journalists is not to endorse candidates for political offices but to make their ideals and programmes known to the public for informed choice, noting that those behind the report, which it described as fabricated, were impersonators or mischief makers.

“Our attention has been drawn to a news report trending in the social media to the effect that the Association of Igede Media Professionals (AIMP) has endorsed Mr Terver Akase, former media aide to Governor Samuel Ortom, for the Benue State governorship race come 2023.

“The said report came to us as a surprise and we wish to unequivocally state that the story is false and a figment of the imaginations of the writers and their sponsors with obvious ill motives.

“It needs to be emphasized that at no time did Igede Media Professionals meet with any governorship aspirant in the state, talk less of endorsement of their ambitions.

“We are a group of thorough bred professionals with a mandate to defend the interest of our people, and in doing that we shall adhere strictly to journalism ethics.

“We, therefore, find it appalling that some persons would drag our name into such an unholy endeavored for whatever reasons. This is impersonation and mischief,” the Association said in a statement signed by its President, Egena Sunday Ode.”

The association declared in the statement that it aligned itself with the agitation for power shift to Zone C in 2023, saying that it is the best way to redress the imbalances and marginalization that had characterized the politics of the state.

“As a body, we align ourselves with the agitation for power shift to Zone C for the first time since the creation of the state in 1976 as a way of addressing the political imbalances and marginalization of the zone. We will continue to promote this worthy cause,” Ode stated.