Politics
Benue not like Lagos where godfathers see themselves as gods –Ortom
Governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom, on Tuesday said that the state is not others like Lagos where godfathers see themselves as god.
He told this to a former governor of the state and a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator George Akume, who governed Benue between 1999 and 2007.
Akume had during an interaction with journalists at his residence in Makurdi claimed that despite Benue realizing over N500 billion under Ortom’s administration, there was nothing to show for it.
Lamenting that Ortom could not pay workers’ salaries despite the income; Akume regretted bringing the governor to power in 2015. He therefore asked the people of the state for forgiveness.
But Ortom in his response said the reason the former governor kept attacking him was not because he had failed to perform as a governor, but because his refusal to submit to the control of Akume.
He accused Akume of diverting N2 billion from the state’s coffers while serving as governor to prosecute his Senate ambition in 2007.
Ortom stated this through his Special Adviser on Media and ICT, Tahav Agerzua.
“Akume’s criticism of Governor Samuel Ortom has nothing to do with performance but everything to do with Ortom’s refusal to be subservient and be subjugated to his (Akume’s) whims.
“It has become a trend for Nigerian godfathers to suffocate their godchildren for failing to be totally slavish to them. This is unfortunate of godfathers who see themselves as gods as it happened in Lagos State.
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“Unfortunately for Akume, he failed to achieve the same selfish dreams for Ortom in like manner.”
He then called on Benue people to turn against Akume for his failure to make good use of the privileges they gave him.
Lagos State Governor Akinwunmi Ambode recently lost the APC ticket to run for a second term in office after a national leader of the party and a former Lagos State governor, Senator Bola Tinubu, refused to support him.
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