Benue state governor Samuel Ortom has debunked insinuations by the All Progressives Congress (APC) accusing him of amplifying the debt profile of the state from N20 billion to N200 billion as a cheap blackmail and falsehood being by the opposition to get power in the state in 2023.
In a swift reaction, the chief press secretary to the governor, Nathaniel Ikyur explained that Alia’s allegations are out of tune with the character of one who wishes to be trusted with state power.
While describing the allegations as ‘deliberate falsehood’ Ikyur said “people cannot just wake up from the wrong sides of their beds and embark on voyage of character assassination of innocent persons just to curry electoral victory. Enough of this blackmail.”
Earlier, a statement by the communication team of the APC candidate Rev Fr Hyacinth Alia, through its spokesperson Tersoo Kulas described governor Ortom and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, candidate Titus Uba who is also the speaker of the Benue State House of Assembly as monumental disasters “as far as development of the state is concerned.”
According to Kulas, “the Benue masses are interested to know why Ortom and his gang have mortgage the future of generation yet unborn of the state by through implausible thoughtless and iniquitous borrowings, amplified the debt profile of the state from less than N20 billion to unprecedented level of over N200 billion without any corresponding development”.
He said, “Considering the enormous resources that accrued to the state during the tenure of the present PDP led administration, it is not an understatement to declare that governor Ortom and speaker Uba are monumental disasters as far as development of the state is concerned”
Kulas also accused the governor and the speaker Benue State House of Assembly of betraying the genuine trust Benue people gave them and misguidedly renewed it for another four years in 2019.
“We want Ortom to tell Benue parents, majority of whom he and his gang have impoverished by their ineptitude, abysmal performance in government and unprecedented corruption why he levied and collected almost N1 billion from them to bring ICT to secondary schools in Benue, yet there is no available evidence that the project has been executed in the state,” Kulas stated.