Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State, on Monday, fired back at Senator George Akume, representing Benue North-West Senatorial District in the National Assembly, challenging him to account for his achievements to his constituents rather than engaging in political brinkmanship.
Governor Ortom, through the Special Adviser on Media and ICT, Tahav Agerzua, in a media interaction in Makurdi, cautioned that Akume should not arrogate power to himself.
The governor advised Akume to devote more energy on showcasing his achievements in his senatorial district in order to convince constituents to support his re-election in 2019 to the Senate, than attacking him.
“Nobody should think that he can make someone governor, such practice is now alien. Aper Aku became the first civilian Governor of Benue State without anyone’s effort, the same goes for Rev.Fr. Moses Adasu. Only God has the prerogative of giving power to whoever He likes,” Agerzua had said.
The SA Media further refuted allegation that Ortom gave millions of Naira to certain governorship aspirants after a meeting for them to step down for him in the PDP. He stated that the governor is not afraid to contest the PDP primary election, noting that in 2015, Ortom ran the entire process of the PDP governorship primary before leaving for the APC on the grounds of impunity.
Tahav Agerzua had declared: “Where will he get such a huge amount of money from?
“People should stop setting the governor against other aspirants. Governor Ortom is not afraid of the contest. That is why as a democrat, he even left the APC which offered him an automatic ticket. I believe too, that the PDP will not force Ortom on its members.
“Let all the aspirants canvass for votes from the delegates ahead of the primary.
“Politics is a matter of interest, so if the aspirants feel that their interest is better protected in other political parties, they can move. It is a free world.
“Let me assure everyone including the aspirants that Governor Ortom is a man who believes in the rule of law and due process and is never afraid of contest.
“When we were contesting for the first tenure in 2015, most people knew that Ortom would not get the ticket on the platform of the PDP and we asked him to move out of the PDP but he told us he wanted to complete the entire process. “Ortom is a due process man. It was when he was kicked out that he decided to explore the window of the APC on the account of impunity that he found in the PDP.
“Unfortunately, the similar situation that he found in the PDP played itself out in the APC and he is back to a reformed, rebranded, refocused, re-energised and reengineered PDP which has apologised for its sins and pledged that it would not condone impunity within its rank again.”