BY TERVER AKASE
We read a press statement issued by the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Hyacinth Alia, in which the governor launched yet another round of baseless and scathing attacks on his predecessor, Chief Samuel Ortom.
Governor Alia’s latest outburst, rather than addressing the legitimate concerns raised by our great party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), regarding the ₦100 billion loan recently approved for him by the Benue State House of Assembly, went berserk, as has become his government’s trademark tactic, by launching vituperation on the person of Chief Ortom and his administration.
This only further exposes the Alia administration’s growing intolerance for accountability and its obsession with dragging the name of Chief Ortom into every issue, no matter how unrelated.
We find it sad and unfortunate that in an era of over 500% increased federal allocations, when other state governors across the country have since cleared the backlogs of salaries, pensions, and gratuities they inherited and are now competing among themselves in development projects, the governor of Benue State has chosen instead to compete with his predecessor, who has become his barometer for measuring performance.
When President Bola Tinubu visited Benue State in June this year, he confirmed that his administration is giving state governors so much money that they have no reason to borrow to pay salaries and provide development. This is a sharp contrast to the Buhari era when 28 states could not pay salaries as and when due. President Tinubu had earlier asked Nigerians to hold their governors accountable because his administration is releasing huge sums to them to make life better for their people.
Governor Alia and his team abhor and avoid any discussion that tilts towards transparency and accountability like a plague.
Contracts under the current government are awarded without due process and without budgetary allocations. The State Assembly and other concerned Benue people have raised questions regarding the award of the contract for the rehabilitation of a short road of 13 kilometres from Wurukum Roundabout to the Air Force Base in Makurdi, to the tune of ₦68.3 billion. Yet, to this day, the Alia government has not provided any explanation in response to the concerns raised. The government has similarly kept sealed lips on probing questions regarding the ₦73 billion reportedly approved for a road project leading to the governor’s village in Mbadede, Vandeikya Local Government Area.
Each time Governor Alia is confronted with questions bordering on transparency in governance, or the welfare of Benue people, his reflex action is to attack Chief Ortom instead of providing facts and figures. This pattern of behaviour, now clearly habitual, smacks of an administration that is averse to probity and intent on evading the responsibility of explaining how public funds are being managed.
What has Governor Alia done with the huge revenues that have accrued to the state since May 29, 2023? Why the secrecy surrounding the state’s finances? And why the desperate attempt to silence anyone who dares to ask these questions?
Rather than address these legitimate concerns, Governor Alia has chosen the path of diversion, resorting to insults, half-truths, and false claims about Chief Ortom, whose stewardship as governor remains one of selfless service, transparency, good governance, and courage in defending the people of Benue State, particularly in the face of grave security challenges.
Governor Alia should be the last person to speak about local government funds, as he holds the national record of being the worst-performing governor in the country in that regard. Since 2023, his administration has shown zero accountability in managing local government finances. Not even one of the 23 councils has been able to construct even a single borehole for their people, despite the unprecedented allocations that have accrued to them. This marks a stark departure from the Ortom era, when local governments across the state actively competed in the execution of development projects because Governor Ortom granted them control over their resources.
It is a fact of history that Governor Ortom left behind verifiable records of his administration’s financial transactions and projects. Those records were duly handed over to the Alia administration. If Governor Alia believes otherwise, he should make public the official handover documents and audited accounts, instead of engaging in cheap propaganda meant to mislead the public.
The other day, the Alia administration published a shocking falsehood that the state spends ₦7.4 billion monthly on debt servicing, implying that, in the last 29 months, the Benue State Government has spent ₦214.6 billion on debt servicing, an amount that is ₦52.5 billion higher than the ₦162.1 billion total that the government itself claims to be the combined domestic and foreign debts. The question which they have refused to answer is: how is the Alia administration spending on debt servicing far more than the actual debts it has declared?
In its press statement today, the same government has stated that it inherited ₦187.7 billion in debt from the previous administration, a statement that is another contradiction in itself. It should be noted that, owing to the efforts of the Ortom administration, Benue State, as of May 29, 2023, had outstanding approvals awaiting disbursement from the Federal Government, including the balance of the Bailout Fund of ₦41 billion and a ₦20 billion Central Bank of Nigeria facility. At the same time, the Benue State Government was expecting several billions as refund on withdrawals for subsidy and SURE-P which also ran into billions. The Alia administration is yet to tell the people whether it has received the SURE-P funds and what it has done with the resources.
Governor Alia and his team should abandon diversionary tactics. The issue at stake is simple and straightforward: the people of Benue State deserve to know why the present administration is taking a fresh ₦100 billion loan barely a year and a few months after assuming office, despite the fact that the removal of fuel subsidy has significantly increased monthly allocations to states.
It is unfortunate that despite being in his third year in office, Governor Alia continues to behave like a campaign candidate rather than a sitting governor. Benue people elected him to govern, not to vilify his predecessor and other sons of the state. Governance is about service delivery, transparency, and accountability, not about name-calling or political score-settling.
His Excellency Samuel Ortom has since moved on from office and has continued to conduct himself with dignity as a statesman. Governor Alia’s obsession with him is not only unnecessary but unbecoming of the high office he occupies.
Chief Ortom wishes Governor Alia well and expects him to do better than he did, owing to the fact that there are abundant resources available to the Benue State Government at the moment.
Terver Akase
Media Adviser/Consultant to H.E. Samuel Ortom
