The Senate on Monday screened Mr Utsev, despite his inability to defend some discrepancies in his biodata as contained in the resume he submitted to the lawmakers
A youth organisation and a group of professionals in Benue State, North-central Nigeria, are currently bickering over the nomination of Joseph Utsev as the ministerial nominee from the state by President Bola Tinubu.
Mr Tinubu recently nominated Mr Utsev, a professor of civil engineering, alongside 27 others to be screened and confirmed by the Senate as ministers.
While submitting the list last week to the Senate, the president's Chief Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, hinted that more names would be submitted to make up for the states yet to have at least a nominee as a minister in accordance with relevant provisions of the Constitution.
The Senate on Monday screened Mr Utsev, despite his inability to defend some discrepancies in his biodata as contained in the resume he submitted to the lawmakers.
Tokunbo Abiru, the senator representing Lagos East(APC), first noted the discrepancies and then asked the nominee to defend the gaps during the 'question and answer' time.
All three senators from the nominee's state spoke in his defence. They appealed to their senator colleagues to screen and confirm him.
The confirmation will be done at the end of the whole screening exercise.
How his nomination is generating tribal bickering
The nomination of Mr Utsev by President Tinubu has, however, generated some intense bickering between two groups having tribal inclinations in the state.
While a group known as the Tiv Youth Council Worldwide is in support of the nomination, another group, identified as the Coalition of Idoma Professionals, is apparently against the choice.
Mr Utsev is of Tiv extraction, which is the largest ethnic group in the state, while Idoma, which is the predominant tribe in Benue South Senatorial District, is considered a minority tribe.
A recent press publication by the Coalition of Idoma Professionals signed by one Inalegwu Adaje said it was an act of injustice against the Idomas for the ministerial nominee representing the state of being of Tiv extraction.
The statement, which appeared in some national dailies on Sunday, said the ministerial nominee should come from Idoma land since the governor, Hyacinth Alia, and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation(SGF), George Akume, are both of Tiv ethnic group, to allow for inclusion and tribal cohesion in the state.
"The recent ministerial nomination is a serious violation of Section 14 Subsection 3 of the 1999 Constitution," a part of the statement noted.
Mr Adaje, the convener of the coalition, noted that " What we have in Benue today is one tribe dominating everything as if we don't have equal rights in Nigeria.
"The governor is a Tiv man; Speaker of the House of Assembly is a Tiv man; the Chief Judge is Tiv; Chief of Staff to the Gov is Tiv; the Secretary to the Government of the Federation is a Tiv man; member Board North East Development; federal level appointments all Tiv. We reject this in totality and call for inclusiveness."
The statement called on President Tinubu to sack Mr Akume, a former governor of the state, between 1999 and 2007.
In a statement on Monday, however, the Tiv Youth Council Worldwide countered the position of the Idoma Professionals, saying they should not expect to reap where they did not sow.
The statement entitled "Reaping where you did not sow calls for patience and circumspection: Tiv Youth Council Worldwide warns Idoma professionals" and signed by one Mike Msuaan, said the Idoma Professionals' press statement rejecting the nomination of Mr Utsev was ' most regrettable, pitiable and a display of ignorance of the workings of democracy."
The statement noted that the Idoma Coalition lacks the moral right to cry injustice as "they have not just represented the same but also marshalled, promoted and benefited from injustice against the Tiv people even more."
A precedent established?
The Tiv youth group reminded the Idoma Professionals that a precedent was set in 2011 when David Mark, as Senate President, reportedly facilitated the nomination of Abba Moro as a minister in the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan.
Messrs Mark and Moro are of Idoma extraction. While the former is no longer visibly politically active, the latter is a two-term serving senator.
Mr Moro, while speaking in support of Mr Utsev's nomination during the screening on Monday, also appealed to President Tinubu to consider his senatorial district for federal appointments to promote inclusion.
"Democracy is a game of numbers and majority rule, meaning that the majority will always have their way in a democratic system, such as practised in the country.
"The Tiv people are majority in the state and have proven so with their numerical voting strength. Hon. Adaje should know that, in 2027, the Tiv people can decide to field a Tiv/ Tiv ticket and win the Guber elections with such voting strength. We are the fourth largest ethnic group in the country and will continue to determine who governs the state with our majority votes," the statement noted.
The statement also alleged that in the build-up to the 2023 general elections, the Idoma nation "boldly rejected the APC and mobilised their people to vote against the candidature of Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Sen Kashim Shettima Presidential ticket tagging it a Muslim/ Muslim ticket."
The statement challenged some leaders, believed to be Idoma, who are chieftains of the APC, to produce a clip of any event where they campaigned for Mr Tinubu in the events leading to the recently conducted presidential election.
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"They should produce the results from their polling units or ward. These are politically irrelevant people who cannot deliver their polling units," Mr Msuaan said.
According to Mr Msuaan, the Idoma Professional Coalition and their sponsors "must know that the APC lost the presidential election woefully in their area and should not expect to be patronised by the APC government. The Idoma people formed G-9, a group birthed to work against the election of President Tinubu."
The group also berated the Idoma Coalition for calling for the sack of Mr Akume, saying the SGF has always been assisting prominent sons and daughters of the Idoma tribe.
The Tiv Youth president stated that it was funny that Mr Adaje questioned the credentials of Mr Utsev, "someone who has risen to the position of professor in a field like Engineering and held several positions of responsibility."
Mr Msuaan maintained that the press release by the Coalition of Idoma Professionals was "an attention-seeking expedition, a cheap display of bravado built on hatred and envy," calling on Mr Tinubu to discountenance it.
The Senate, which screened 14 of the 28 nominees on Monday, is expected to conclude the screening exercise within the week while awaiting the list of more nominees from President Tinubu.
