The 2023 Governorship Election has come and gone with the winners still in celebratory mode and losers still counting their loses. There were also a few pleasant surprises, one of which is Hyacinth Alia, the Roman Catholic priest who emerged as the second cleric in Nigerian history to win a governorship election.
Come May 29, Alia will be spending his first night as Governor Benue State. When he announced his intention to run for office on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, APC, not a few Nigerians were sceptical as to how he intended to pull off his ‘tall’ dream. While his ‘Yes Father’ mantra propelled him as a frontliner, many were eager to know more about him in the state as he was hitherto unknown outside the church despite being a household name in the Roman Catholic Church.
Having won over the residents of Benue who transformed their likeness for him into votes, Nigerians as a whole are curious about the ‘upstart’ that wrestled power from the incumbent Governor Samuel Ortom of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
Alia is well read. He is a graduate of Sacred Theology from Urbaniana University, Rome. He holds a Master’s degree in Religious Education from Fordham University in New York, the United States and another Master’s degree in Biomedical Ethics from Duquesne University, Pennsylvania, as well as a Ph.D in the same course and the same university. He is also a product of St. Augustine’s Major Seminary, Jos, Plateau.
While he was in the US for his studies, Alia was appointed as the Director of Pastoral Services, Catholic Health Services, North Campus Lauderdale Lakes, Florida, USA where he oversaw five full-time contract chaplains and coordinated an ethics advisory committee. He was also the Chaplain at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Centre, St Joseph Mercy Health System Ann Arbor,and the Coordinator and Chaplain, Jamaica Hospital and Medical Queens, New York.
Alia was also the Vicar at the Immaculate Conception Parish, Astoria, and Our Lady of the Cenacle Parish, Richmond Hill, both in New York. The cleric then returned to Nigeria where he served as Vicar at St John’s Parish, Gboko, Benue and subsequently Assistant Cathedral Administrator at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Cathedral Makurdi, Benue’s capital. He was ordained a Catholic priest by late Bishop Athanisius Usuh and thereafter, his healing masses programme began. He soon became famous for healing the sick and exorcising demons with a sprinkle of holy water.
Every Saturday, he would gather the sick and afflicted members of the congregation and pray for them. Soon, what started out as a small congregational gathering gradually grew in large proportion and attracted parishioners from other churches seeking miracles. Soon enough, people started dubbing the holy water he sprayed on those who came to seek divine encounters ‘Alia’s water.’ People with mental illnesses, physical challenges, spiritual attacks and those seeking favours made up a large percentage of the crowd with numbers doubling in subsequent gatherings. It wasn’t all a show as people began receiving their healings. His popularity soared but it made a few people uncomfortable. They questioned the source of his powers and soon, the Catholic Church succumbed to pressure to send him to the Vatican for investigation.
The Vatican confirmed Rev Father Alia’s healing powers, describing it as a gift from God. Then came his quest for politics, which is forbidden by the Catholic Church. If he thought it would be an easy ride, he was mistaken. He was admonished severally by his superiors and finally barred from public ministry when he would not relent with his political ambition. He also suffered a series of setbacks and frustration which led him to became the first politician in Benue to contest in his party’s primary election three times and on each occasion, emerged victorious in all re-runs and ended up emerging victorious at the polls.
Alia has said in several fora that his motivation to abandon the pulpit for politics is driven by the need to transform Benue into a better place and liberate the people from poverty. Hopefully, he walks his talk and succeeds in exorcising the devil holding Benue State hostage just as successfully did with demon possessed individuals.
