The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Benue on Saturday berated Governor Samuel Ortom over perceived mismanagement of local government in the state.

The APC State Publicity Secretary, Dan-Morgan Ihomun, at press conference in Makurdi on Saturday, asserted: “Ortom is mismanaging local government councils and has adopted measures aimed at totally annihilating the local government system.’’

Ihomun said that Ortom failed to conduct elections into the councils as prescribed by the 1999 Constitution, adding that certain persons were merely parading themselves as local government chairmen in the state.

According to the APC State Publicity Secretary, “These chairmen have been working and spending money on daily basis for several months without the requisite legislative arm in the local governments.”

The State Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Benue, Bemgba Iortyom, dismissed the allegation that Governor Ortom is mismanaging local government administration in Benue, noting that the governor is not the one running the local governments.

The PDP State Publicity Secretary explained that the executive of the state government under Ortom’s leadership only exercises oversight functions on local governments through clear-cut Constitutional provisions. The provisions, he said, did not include constituting councils and inaugurating them.

Iortyom highlighted:  “Local government council chairmen are vested with that responsibility. In the course of exercising this responsibility, they have inaugurated the vice-chairmen.

“This is a fact against the lie by APC that they have not been inaugurated.’’

Iortyom stressed that Ortom had been conducting council elections right from the time he became governor in 2015.