Pains, penury imposed on Benue people by Ortom won’t be forgotten – Alia
…By Titus Atondu, Makurdi
Benue State Governor, Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Iormem Alia, has said the pains and penury that the immediate past Samuel Ortom’s administration has imposed on the Benue citizenry for eight years cannot be forgotten in a rush.
The Governor said this in a press statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary Tersoo Kula, at the weekend and made available to Nigerian NewsDirect.
He stated that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) also lack the moral right to appraise his administration.
“How quick, but we haven’t forgotten. Doing appraisal and posing as voices of the people cannot be done by the same vicious team and party that midwifed and nurtured the monstrous status and the current challenges that are bedeviling the State today.
“Perhaps, the apostles of the immediate past government in Benue State are feigning an amnesia over the 28 billion Naira bailout funds that Ortom government collected to offset the backlog of salary arrears inherited from Suswam’s administration in the state. The Benue people have not forgotten how the bailout funds were brazenly misappropriated with impunity and how the state workers became perpetually placed on the path of misery and squalid conditions of bare survival for eight years despite massive monies that came into the State coffers through federal allocations, massive borrowings, internally generated revenues and other interventions,” he said.
The statement alleged the reckless condition with which Benue workers were treated by the Ortom government is “reminiscent of the inglorious days of slavery in human history.”
It further revealed that the State Benue workers were compelled to become farmers, just to make ends meet for eight uninterrupted locust years of Ortom’s administration.
According to him, “it was rather cynical that those who conspired to perpetuate the most absurd level of economic servitude on the Benue workers are now standing on an abstract high moral grounds to raise voices of criticism against a government that is demonstrating a satisfactory capacity to tackle the multifarious challenges imposed on the state through a well articulated political redemption strategy.
“Similarly, looking at the courage and boldness the PDP still has to perpetually lie to the people who are still bearing the brunt of the hardship brought upon them by the party, it has further confirmed the obvious that it was deliberate, especially looking at the way the party is still rating itself high.
“Truth be told, it is nauseating for the PDP to even think of appraising the present administration within this short time. This is the same party that initiated and viciously supervised the removal of government assets, including air conditioners and other electronic ancillaries, in government offices and lodges.
“Moreover, it is on record that Governor Alia was never accorded the due smooth tradition that previous incoming Governors including Samuel Ortom enjoyed. But since his mind is to restore the lost glories of the state, the Reverend Gentleman has kept his head above troubled waters without the basic paraphernalia of his office and is driving around in old cars, just to make the system work.”
He expressed worry why the PDP can audaciously rate itself high, having caused “the State a kind of denigration and monumental setback, then it is pitiable and ludicrous.”
“However, the PDP must know that Governor Alia is not and has no intention to building his administration on propaganda and falsehood, as was the case during the last administration with Samuel Ortom behind the wheels.
“The discoveries made by Governor Alia during his tour of the state’s Secretariat as well as Ministries, Department, and Agencies within and outside the state, shortly after his inauguration, distinctly highlighted the legacies of ruin left behind by the PDP,” he further said.
