The Benue House of Assembly has rejected a nominee of Governor Hyacinth Alia for the Benue State Independent Electoral Commission, BSIEC, over a demeaning post he made on his Facebook page.
Mr Vincent Gisaor, who was nominated by the Governor as Secretary of BSIEC, had made a derogatory post that was considered injurious to the Tiv race on his Facebook page.
The decision of the house was taken on Thursday during the plenary session.
Arogidigba Global Journal witnessed the moment when the member representing Konshisha state constituency, Hon Cephas Dyako, read a post the nominee made on his Facebook page as he was ushered into the chambers for screening.
Hon. Dyako of the Labor Party pointed out that the post, which was derogatory towards the Tiv ethnic group, showed that Gisaor was unfit for any public office in the state.
Dyako said, “Mr Gisaor said in local parlance ‘your nyash’ to all the Tiv people in his post, which I find very derogatory coming from a person of his standing.”
The lawmaker also noted that one of those who commented on the post had even advised him to delete it and apologize, but he adamantly refused to do so.
Several lawmakers agreed with Dyako, stating that the nominee was not fit to hold such a public office and urged the house not to confirm his nomination.
However, the nominee had earlier explained when asked to defend himself that he was only mimicking an incident recounted by a woman during a skirmish between Iharev and Kparev people of Tyo-mu in Makurdi Local Government.
“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,” he explained.
Ruling on the matter, the Speaker, Mr Hyacinth Dajoh, said the nominee never quoted anyone while making the post, so it is assumed that it was his opinion.
Dajoh, therefore, asked the governor to nominate another person in place of Gisaor.