Biography

Hyacinth Iormem Alia: Biography, Age, Family, Career, Controversy, and More

Published

1 year ago

2023/03/24

Who is Hyacinth Alia? Biography, Wikipedia

Reverend Father Hyacinth Iormem Alia is a Catholic cleric and politician. He was declared the governor-elect of Benue state by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), following the March 18, 2023, general elections.

This made him the second Roman Catholic Priest to be elected governor of a State in Nigeria.

Alia of the All Progressives Congress (APC) polled 473,913 votes to beat his closest opponent, Engineer Titus Uba of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), who polled 223,913 votes.

Age

Hyacinth Alia was born on May 14, 1966. He is 56 years old and will be 57 by May 14, 2023.

Tribe

Alia was born in Mbangur, Mbadede, Vandeikya Local Government Area of Benue state.

Education

Hyacinth Alia attended St. Francis Primary school, Agidi, Mbatiav, in Gboko local government area of the state, where he obtained his First School Leaving Certificate.

He enrolled at St. James Minor Seminary, Makurdi, in 1983 where he began his religious career.

Alia gained admission to study at St. Augustine’s Major Seminary, Jos. He studied for a Diploma in Religious studies in 1987 and a Bachelor of Arts in Sacred Theology in 1990.

In 1999, he obtained a Master’s in Religious Education (Psychology and Counseling) at Fordham University, Bronx, New York City, USA.

In 2004, he got an additional master’s degree in biomedical ethics from Duquesne University, Pennsylvania, US, in 2004 and a doctorate degree in the same course and the same university in 2005.

Career

Rev Fr Hyacinth Iormem Alia was ordained a Catholic Priest on 7 July 1990, by Bishop Athanasius Atule Usuh of Makurdi Catholic Diocese.

Before politics, Alia served as Director of Pastoral Services, Catholic Health Service, North Campus Lauderdale Lakes, Florida, United States of America.

He is a member of the National Association of Catholic Chaplains, the CatholicHealth Service System Wide Ethics Committee and member of the Broward Ethics Committee.

Controversy

Picking Sam Ode as running mate

Alia deputy governor-elect is Sam Ode, a former Minister of State for Niger Delta. Before the official announcement, Hyacinth Alia denied picking a deputy yet following rumour of such a development.

Reacting to the report at the time, Kula Tersoo, Head of Media and Publicity, Alia 2023 Gubernatorial Campaign Organization, on a reaction to media reports said, “Parties don’t pick a deputy for the candidate. It is the candidate that picks the deputy. Rev. Fr. Alia is yet to pick and announce his deputy. Once he does that, he will communicate to the public.”

‘Not a member of the state chapter of APC’

The APC Solidarity Group, Benue state chapter had argued that Rev. Father Hyacinth Alia, “is not a member of the state chapter of the party.”

The Benue state APC had zoned the Governorship seat to Jechira, which comprises of Konshisha and Vandiekya Local government areas of the state.

The state coordinator, Hon. Guana Joseph, in a statement at the time said documents emanating from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) revealed that the Vandiekya Local Government chapter of APC where the APC candidate hails from has no record of membership with INEC.

The group then accused Senator George Akume of being “blinded by desperation to the extent of imposing a non-party member on the APC as her governorship candidate.

“We have with us the certified true copies of INEC’s response to an application by a law firm, Broad Spectrum & Partners, requesting for certified true copies of the acknowledgement of receipt of hard and soft copies of the registers of members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Social Democratic Party (SDP) from Benue State as submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

“In its reply to the application signed by Barr. Ernest Olenyi, INEC revealed that out of the 23 local government areas of Benue State, the APC submitted the list of members in 21 local government areas.

“The two local government areas without its list of members are Vandiekya and Katsina-Ala local governments.

“The implication is that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has no validly nominated governorship candidate by the party as the local government area where Rev. Father Hyacinth Alia is from was not submitted in compliance with Section 77(2) & (3) of the Electoral Act 2022 (as amended).”