Benue: Ex-gov. Ortom cautions Alia not to use fake figures to discredit his financial records

From Attah Ede Makurdi

The former governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom, on Tuesday, cautioned his successor, Hyacinth Alia not to use fake figures to discredit his financial records.

He challenged the governor, Alia to better make the hidden motives of his administration known to Benue people, rather than using the name of Ortom to announce inflated and non-existent figures, regarding the state resources as is currently doing.

Ortom who was reacting to a statement made against him and credited to governor Alia, noted that the Alia administration appears to be obsessed with his name as former governor, as they miss no opportunity to throw darts at him branding him with all manner of negative hues.

The former governor who spoke through his Media Aide, Terver Akase in a statement he issued and made available to newsmen in Makurdi, said he read a media report attributed to Benue State Governor, Hyacinth Alia in which he was quoted to have claimed that his administration inherited N359 billion in salary arrears from his predecessor, Chief Samuel Ortom.

According to the report, Governor Alia made the allegation in Okpoga, the headquarters of Okpokwu local government area of the state.

Akase said that the former governor, Ortom would have ignored the allegation but silence, as they say, is consent.

He explained that going by Governor Alia’s claim that he inherited N359 billion in salary arrears, the unfounded impression created is that the past administration of Governor Ortom did not pay salaries for five years (60 months)!, asking how possible is this?

According to him, the narrative is not only ridiculously fictitious, but is also a deliberate flip-flop to mislead the people, stressing that Chief Ortom left office more than a year ago but his successor and his team can’t get off his back.

“Governor Alia and his men seem to forget that the campaign period is over and they are now in government to serve. The people who voted for governor Alia won’t ask for a scorecard titled ‘Samuel Ortom’ at the end of the day.

“Governor Ortom also inherited debts in 2015, but he went on to pay seven months arrears and also implemented a 27% increase in teachers’ salaries. He implemented N18,000 minimum wage for teachers as well, the same way he later implemented the N30,000 minimum wage for workers.

“Curiously, the same government told the people via a statement by Governor Alia’s Chief Press Secretary in June last this year that Governor Ortom handed N187.56 billion to them as debt, which was the same amount the former Governor mentioned while presenting handover notes to his successor on May 28, 2023, to which the former Governor gave a detailed presentation in his handover notes on the efforts his administration had made to reduce the debt to the barest.

“What the present government is saying about the state debt now is contradictory and politically motivated. Governor Alia and his team are quick to gleefully talk about finances as they affect the previous administration, but quickly recoil into silence whenever a question is put to them on how they are managing resources of the state”.

“There has been zero accountability since Governor Alia took over on May 29, 2023! The present administration has not told Benue people that since May 2023 when President Tinubu approved the removal of fuel subsidy, Benue, like other states, has been receiving federal allocations three times higher than what the previous government received” he stated.

“If Governor Alia wants the people to believe his narrative, his government should publish the financial records and prove that it inherited N359 billion as salary arrears from the Ortom administration.

“We wish to once more urge the Governor to concentrate on governance in order to fulfill his promises to the people as campaigns are over” he noted