Politics
APC accuses Ortom of recruiting thugs, militia for election
The Benue State Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Mr. Abba Yaro, has accused Governor Samuel Ortom of recruiting thugs and militia men from the Niger Delta to wreck havoc on the state in today’s Governorship and state assembly elections.
Yaro who spoke on Friday to reporters in Markurdi, the state capital, said the aim of the governor is to rig the election, adding that Ortom contracted one of his security aides to recruit the militants and thugs.
However, in a swift reaction, Ortom’s Special Adviser on Media, Mr. Tahav Agerzua, denied the allegation, saying APC members were the ones relying on militia and thugs for political strength.
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Agerzua said: “Governor Ortom won 2015 election without resort to thugs and doesn’t need them in 2019. Check their (APC) antecedents and what they did in Tarka, Kwande and Gwer and you will conclude that they rely on militia.
“Remember that Governor Ortom did an amnesty programme, seized and destroyed over 700 illegal weapons and thousands of ammunition. If he wanted thugs he wouldn’t have done that.
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