Date of Birth: 
About Gabriel Suswam
- Gabriel Torwua Suswam is a Nigerian politician and former governor of Benue State.
- He is a Senator of the 9th assembly, of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Senator Gabriel Torwua Suswam is a Nigerian citizen of the Tiv ethnic stock in Benue State.
- He is a lawyer by training, a public administrator and politician by career. He is a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria representing Benue North-East Senatorial District, popularly referred to as Zone 'A'.
- He won election to the seat in the 2019 elections. He was previously elected to the office of Governor of Benue State in 2007 and 2011 and served two terms of 4 years each (cumulatively 8 years) leaving that office, as required by law, in 2015. Prior to his being elected Governor of Benue State he had won election in 1999 and 2003 and served two terms of 4 years each (cumulatively 8 years) as member of the House of Representatives for Katsina-Ala/Ukum/Logo Federal Constituency. He holds a first degree in Law (LL.B) obtained from the University of Lagos, a second degree in Law (LL.M) from the University of Jos and a third degree in Law (PhD) also obtained from the University of Jos.
- He also holds a master's degree in Public Administration (MPA) from the University of Abuja.
- He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (FCIArb), and holds the National Honours Award of Commander of Order of the Niger (CON). Senator Gabriel Torwua Suswam was born on 15 November 1964 to the famed Suswam Tingir Dom Agya of Anyiin, Logo Local Government Area of Benue State presently in the North-Central Geo-political Region of Nigeria. At an early age he was enrolled into NKST Primary School, Zaki–Biam, Benue State for his primary school education and passed out in 1977, obtaining the First School Leaving Certificate. He went on to gain admission into St.
- Andrew's Secondary School, Adikpo, Benue State where he commenced his secondary school education.
- But on completing only the first academic session there, a change in personal circumstances prompted his transfer to Government College, Makurdi, Benue State, where he continued with studies passing out in 1982 with the General Certificate in Education (GCE) Ordinary Level. Driven by the ambition for higher learning, Gabriel Suswam proceeded to the then School of Basic Studies, Makurdi in 1982 and passed out from there in 1984 passing the Interim Joint Matriculation Board (IJMB) which was a requisite pre-qualification for university education. In 1986 he gained admission into the Faculty of Law of the University of Lagos and graduated in 1989 with the Bachelors of Law (LL.B (Hons) degree.
- He therefrom proceeded to the Nigerian Law School, Lagos where he studied and successfully passed his Bar examinations and was called to the Nigerian Bar as a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria in 1991. Proceeding from there, Suswam answered the call to national duty and participated in the mandatory National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme at Trendex Finance Firm in Lagos, passing out successfully in 1991. His Professional Law Practice Experience: Having been called to the Bar and successfully completed the NYSC scheme, the young Barr.
- Gabriel Suswam went straightaway into private legal practice as Junior Counsel in the Corporate Legal firm of Tokode & Company based in Lagos.
- He learnt the ropes quickly and adjusted to the challenges of the legal profession. In 1994, having garnered requisite exposure he formed his private Law firm, Tingir & Associates, based in Lagos which in three years grew into a successful firm offering a wide range of legal services.
- But to cope with the rising demands of his clientele, he relocated to the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja where he partnered with a professional colleague, Paul Harris Ogbole, to float the Suswam, Ogbole & Co Law firm. His Political Career: As Member House of Representatives- In the buildup to the return to civil rule in 1999, Gabriel Suswam got involved in the political process and consequently felt the need to answer the call by his people back home in Benue State to represent them in the House of Representatives.
- And in line with requirements for professional conduct as a lawyer, he resigned from legal practice to seek election into the House of Representatives to represent the Katsina-Ala/Ukum/Logo Federal Constituency.
- He ran for the seat in the 1999 elections on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and won by a landslide. He was inaugurated into the House of Representatives in June, 1999 and evolved seamlessly into one of the mainstream leaders and power brokers of the House.
- He was appointed Chairman of the sensitive House Services Committee.
- The committee was vested with the responsibility for allocation of residential and office accommodation, as well as vehicles, stationery and sundry needs for members of the brand-new House.
- The very sensitive and demanding nature of the functions of this committee required that only the best hand among the members be entrusted with its leadership.
- Gabriel Suswam, only in his early thirties, handled the leadership of the House Services Committee with such sagacity as gave the House a smooth take-off and ushered him into national leadership.
- He was later in the same tenure appointed Chairman of the House Committee on the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). He had an evidently successful and fruitful first term at the House where he contributed significantly to the business of legislation while also attracting landmark constituency development projects to, not only his catchment constituency, but to other parts of Benue State across the three Senatorial Districts. In the 2003 elections, Suswam ran for re-election to the same seat and was once more returned victorious by his constituents.
- His re-election victory was doubtless the result of the impact of his first term performance, and this from all indications spurred him to do more. In his second term at the House, the now Rt.
- Hon.
- Gabriel Suswam moved up in ranking and influence in the House and was appointed to Chair the House Committee on Appropriations, and later in the same tenure he was appointed Chairman, House Committee on Power. With such quality of influence at the House came enhanced level of attraction of constituency projects to communities across Benue State, in the areas of potable water provision, rural electricity, education, health care delivery.
- His inter-personal relations with people of all classes was another area he excelled distinctly, exhibiting an uncommonly large heart in accommodating and catering to the needs of an ever growing circle of friends and associates. On the national stage of leadership the name 'Gabriel Suswam' was already established and growing in reckoning when then President, Olusegun Obasanjo, himself made it all the more popular by erroneously accusing him in the global news media of financial related offences.
- Of course, the allegations came to nought but the name 'Gabriel Suswam' rang on an on and grew in appeal, particularly in his home state of Benue. By 2007 it was clear to see that this lawyer turned federal legislator was ripe and primed to take a shot at the governorship of Benue.
- And this he did, first winning the ticket of his party, PDP, in a keenly contested primary race in which he was the youngest aspirant in a field which comprised professors, international diplomats and tested politicians of high standing . He went on to win the general election against his main challenger being the candidate of then All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP), Prof.
- Daniel Saror, who was a serving Senator and a former Vice Chancellor of the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria. Senator Gabriel Torwua Suswam was sworn into office as the 4th democratically elected Governor of Benue on 29 May 2007 to a 4-year tenure and he did hit the ground running at top speed of performance.
- It was not in doubt within his first 100 days in office that he had come to the job prepared with the right level of will and armed with a clear vision of what he intended to do as governor. In his first 100 days in office he was awarded the title Mr.
- Infrastructure by national media organisations in acknowledgement of the landmark infrastructural projects his administration had executed within that relatively short period of time.
- In record time the Suswam administration transformed the face of Makurdi and the major urban centres of the state through grade A streets, township roads walkways and street lighting.
- In that first term the Suswam administration went on to transform virtually all facets of the Benue society through top quality projects.
- Workers welfare within this period was given premium attention, with a detailed regimen of upgrade in wages before the national minimum wage policy.
- Indeed, Senator Gabriel Suswam stands to date as the most worker-friendly governor in the entire history of Benue State since its creation in 1976. He went in for re-election in 2011 and won again by a landslide against his main challenger, this time USA based Prof.
- Steven Ugba, who ran on the platform of then Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).
- Despite that the opposition then resorted to protracted litigation against him, Senator Suswam went on to consolidate on the firm developmental foundation he had laid in the first term.
- By the end of his 8-year reign as Governor in 2015, he bequeathed a rich developmental legacy which consisted in over 500 kilometres of urban and rural roads, electrification of close to 300 towns and villages, top quality upgrade in the educational and health care delivery systems, among several other legacies.
- He completed and put to use the ultra-modern Greater Makurdi Water Works and the Benue State University Teaching Hospital.
- He also constructed the Ultra-modern Makurdi International Market and the world class Faculty of Law Complex at the Benue State University, Makurdi. One of the visionary landmark projects executed by Senator Suswam is the Artificial Swine Insemination Centre at the Akperan Orshi College of Agriculture, Yandev, which is a project targeted to replace the local Benue variety of pigs with the ultra-improved variety from the State of Iowa in USA.
- In spite of a vicious smear campaign from political opponents aimed at killing the project, it endured and today is steadily achieving the concept objective as the improved variety of pigs is spreading across the state with households and farms breeding the animals at a rapidly increasing rate, with an attendant massive impact on the economy of the state. Senator Gabriel Suswam in the course of his political career went back to school and acquired advanced education and fellowship of professional bodies as well as honorary award.
- He studied and obtained a Master of Laws (LL.M) Degree from the University of Jos and still at the same university studied further and bagged a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Law in 2011.
- He also fulfilled the mandatory requirements and was accorded the prestige of induction as a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (FCIArb).
- In 2012 Rt.
- Hon.
- Suswam was decorated by President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan as Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON) which is the 4th highest ranked National Honours of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. His Loss Of Election And Subsequent Travails- In 2015 at the end of his governorship tenure, Suswam ran for election to the Senate in the Benue North-East (Zone 'A') Senatorial District on the platform of the PDP, but he lost to then incumbent Senator Barnabas Gemade who ran on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
- His party, the PDP also lost in most of the elections in the state that year, losing the governorship, two out of three Senatorial seats, seven out of eleven House of Representatives seats and fourteen out of thirty State Assembly seats. Though there existed credible grounds upon which to challenge his defeat at the tribunal, Senator Suswam chose not to toe the path of litigation, insisting rather magnanimously that Benue and the people would be the better for it if he instead joined forces with other leaders to move the state forward. Yet, in spite of that decision, his life went through much turbulence with series of probes of his administration by the new power order, and what followed was a litany of arrests, detentions and trails in court by security agencies.
- On one of such occasions he spent 73 days in detention under the custody of the Directorate of State Services (DSS) on trumped up allegations of possession of firearms and certain personal holdings like wrist-watches and land title documents.
- Yet during the same period his popularity and appeal with the people grew in leaps and bounds, as they remembered his large hearted and benevolent brand of leadership as well as the landmark developmental achievements of his administration. During this period the stability and depth of his character as a leader manifested as he refused to neither be bowed by the burden of his travails, nor be cowed by his traducers whom he also refused to be embittered with.
- Also, during this period, rather than go down into political decline, Senator Suswam emerged as one of the leading lights of the renaissance of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
- The party was re-positioning for the coming 2019 election year and he emerged in the mainstream of its new leadership order being involved at the topmost levels of the re-positioning efforts.
- He was an integral member of all of the sensitive top level committees constituted during that time to work out frameworks and modalities for the re-positioning of the party and its alliance with other political parties. A mark of his influence in the party manifested with his emergence as Chairman of the ultra-sensitive Electoral Sub-committee of the December 2017 Elective Convention of the party in Abuja at which emerged the Uche Secondus-led National Executive Committee.
- The credibility and transparency of the electoral process at that convention earned widespread rave reviews as the most successful Elective National Convention held by the party since its formation in 1998.
- Such acclaim took into cognisance the fact of ultra-high tensions within party ranks and determined subversive activities by the ruling federal power order in the buildup to the convention.
- Senator Suswam was also a pivotal power in the brinkmanship which eventually saw to the return to the PDP of incumbent Governor of Benue State, His Excellency, Samuel Ioraer Ortom from APC in 2018. His Victory At The Senatorial Election Of 2019- In 2019, having paid his dues in re-positioning PDP, both at the national and state levels, Senator Gabriel Torwua Suswam took another shot at the Senate of the Benue North-East (Zone 'A) Senatorial District on the platform of the party, and this time, after securing the party's ticket unopposed, he went on to win the election by a landslide margin of over 70,000 votes against his closest challenger, Mrs.
- Mimi Orubibi who ran on the platform of the APC. Senator Gabriel Suswam is presently the Senator representing Benue North-East Senatorial District and Senate committee chairman on power. He is a devout Christian, married to Arc.
- Deaconnes Yemisi Dooshima Suswam and a father of two sons.
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