From Rose Ejembi, Makurdi
Elder statesman and former federal commissioner of Revenue Mobilization and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), Hon. Richard Asema has drummed support for the governorship aspiration of Senator Barnabas Gemade.
Asema stated this in a statement made available to Daily Sun by the Media aide to the governorship aspirant, Comrade Solo Dzuah in Makurdi, the state capital on Thursday.
The APC stalwart posited that Gemade who is aspiring to become Governor of Benue State come 2023 on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) is certainly not too old to run.
Asema noted that Senator Gemade has been tested and trusted and had been found out to be incorruptible and committed to the welfare of the people and is therefore fit to steer the ship of the state.
Likening Gemade to the biblical Moses, Seems asked, “Where were young persons when God who is perfect and all-knowing chose Moses who was over 80years to lead the Israelites out of Egypt?
He opined that Gemade is the contemporary Moses to rescue Benue in 2023, because according to him, the burden of suffering and agony inflicted by the PDP to Benue State people is heavier than that of King Pharaoh.
“He (Gemade) was the first indigenous Managing Director of Benue Cement PLC, two times Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria representing zone “A”. National chairman of the PDP and National chairman of CNC, secretary of works and housing in the interim National Government and he is a tenacious entrepreneur.
“I wish to draw the attention of those who say that senator Barnabas Gemade at 75 in 2023 is too old to run for the governorship race that in the USA, the most powerful nation in the world and where we borrowed our democracy and presidential system of government, their 46th the president Joe Biden was elected when he was 77 years old and his vice president Mrs. Kamala Harris is 56 years old.
“The current American senate majority leader Mitch MC Connell is 78 years old and has been in the senate for 35 years. The lower house is led by Mrs. Nancy Pelosi and she is 80 years and has been in the lower house for 31 years. And this is happening in the most perfect democracy in the world.
Asema who posited that the issue of senator Gemade’s old age and experience is an added advantage to him and his party the APC stated further that the focus on leadership in Benue should not be hinged on age but experience and ability to improve security and prosperity of the State.
“He is probably the only APC aspirant that has the wherewithal to march the ruling PDP in the state naira for naira, dollar for dollar and Euro for Euro that will demolish, dismantle and dislodge the ruling PDP in the state as he did in 2015,” Asema said.