If there is one thing the 2027 Benue North-West Senatorial District contest has already established, it is that the race will not be a walk in the park.
From a former National Assembly presiding officer seeking a return to Abuja, to an incumbent senator defending his seat, a former First Lady making her first major electoral outing, and an unresolved APC ticket question, Zone B is shaping up as one of the most closely watched political theatres in Benue.
Chief Terngu Tsegba is certainly no newcomer to the National Assembly. Beginning in 1999, he represented Gboko/Tarka Federal Constituency for three terms and, as Speaker Pro Tempore of the House of Representatives, occupied one of the more prominent positions in the federal legislature. By 2011, however, he was looking beyond the House.
That year, Chief Tsegba sought the PDP ticket for the Benue North-West Senate seat then occupied by Senator George Akume (now Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF)). The contest ended with Sen Akume retaining the seat and subsequently emerging as Senate Minority Leader. Chief Tsegba returned to private life, combining farming with golf, but the political bugle appears to have sounded again.
Chief Tsegba’s argument for a comeback is built around experience. He says he has watched the National Assembly from outside and understands better what the zone needs. He has also come out aggressively against the incumbent, Senator Titus Zam, while attacking the political record of former Governor Samuel Ortom and questioning the relevance of his wife’s candidacy.
But Sen Zam is not approaching the contest empty-handed.
The incumbent senator points to his empowerment interventions and his current position as chairman of the Senate Committee on the North Central Development Commission as part of his record. His political pitch also draws strength from his loyalty to Sen Akume, the dominant political figure in the zone for years. For Sen Zam, the argument is not merely about experience in the legislature; it is also about political continuity.
Then comes Dr Eunice Ortom.
The immediate past First Lady enters the contest with a different political asset: Visibility built during her years in Government House and a network of goodwill arising from interventions associated with her office. Her supporters can point to her personal identity and public engagements, while her opponents are likely to make the former governor’s administration a central issue in the campaign.
That creates an intriguing political paradox. Dr. Eunice Ortom is running on her own political identity, but she cannot completely escape the shadow of Chief Samuel Ortom. Whether or not voters separate the two will be one of the interesting questions of the campaign.
The APC situation adds another layer of uncertainty. Is it Senator Titus Zam who carries the party’s banner, or Mr. Benjamin Aber, whose emergence from the party’s primary process has generated a legal and political contest? Until the candidate question is finally settled, every calculation about the Zone B race remains provisional.
And this is where the contest becomes bigger than the four names on the ballot.
Senator George Akume remains a central figure in the political equation. So does Fr. Hyacinth Alia, who is also the APC’s 2027 governorship candidate. Their political positions and the networks around them could have considerable bearing on how the contest unfolds. But how that influence translates into actual voter behaviour is a question that cannot be settled from the outset.
For Tsegba, the message is essentially: I have been there, I have watched, and I know what needs to be done.
For Sen Zam, it is a defence of incumbency, legislative experience and political loyalty.
For Dr. Eunice Ortom, it is a bid to convert the goodwill of her years as First Lady into an independent electoral mandate.
For Mr. Aber, the immediate battle is not only electoral; the question of the APC ticket itself remains critical.
That is why Zone B cannot yet be reduced to a simple four-way contest. Beneath the names are old alliances, political grievances, personal networks, incumbency, party structures and the unresolved question of who ultimately controls the APC machinery.
The 2027 race may therefore be less about who has the loudest campaign and more about which political structure successfully converts influence into votes.
For now, Zone B is politically pregnant.
The shape of what is in the womb—and who eventually delivers it into the Senate—will become clearer as the parties, courts, candidates and political godfathers make their moves.
