Benue Assembly rejects gov’s nominee over Facebook post

The Benue State House of Assembly, on Thursday, rejected one of the nominees for the membership of the Benue State Independent Electoral Commission, Vincent Gisaor, for allegedly insulting the Tiv tribe in a Facebook post.

Gisaor was one of the eight nominees for the state electoral commission submitted for screening by Governor Hyacinth Alia a few days ago.

The other nominees are Dr John  Chen (Chairman), Terhemen  Shom, Theodore Uchi, Solomon Deva, Edache Isaac, Gloria Clement, and Peter Ogagbolo.

During the plenary session on Thursday, the lawmaker representing Konshisha State Constituency, Cephas Dyako, called the Assembly’s attention to a Facebook post made by Gisaor.

According to Dyako, the nominee, in the Facebook post, made derogatory remarks about the 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 persons who commented on Gisaor’s Facebook post advised him to delete the post and apologise but he refused to do so.

When the nominee was asked to defend himself, he explained that he met an elderly woman during a fight between the Yarev and Ikparev people of Tyo-mu in the Makurdi Local Government Area 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.

But the lawmakers refused to buy Gisaor’s explanation.

All the lawmakers, who contributed to the debate, 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.

However, of the seven nominees, only Terhemen Shom was confirmed. The House asked the other six members to submit their curriculum vitae which should contain all the records of their educational qualifications before they could be screened.