N10BN LIBEL SUIT: Benue gov, Ortom says he’ll forgive Oshiomhole if…

Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State on Wednesday promised the immediate past National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole that he will be forgiven if he apologised to him over a N10 billion libel suit he (Ortom) instituted against him.

Ortom, who stated this while speaking to journalists during the distribution of 46 vehicles to the 23 local government chairmen and leaders of the state House of Assembly in Makurdi, was reacting to a request for an out of court settlement at the further hearing of the N10bn libel suit Ortom instituted against him at the state High Court in Makurdi on Tuesday,

Ortom had dragged Oshiomhole to court after he, as APC chairman, accused the governor of having a hand in the death of two Catholic priests and other parishioners at Mbalom community, Gwer East Local Government Area of Benue State.

Read also: Ortom urges Buhari to heed calls for restructuring of Nigeria

Oshiomhole had predicated his accusation on the grounds that one of the priests preached a ‘very critical sermon’ against Ortom.

The presiding judge, Justice Augustine Ityonyiman, after Oshiomhole’s reguest, adjourned the case till October 29, 2020, for the report of settlement.

Reacting, Ortom said: “I am a Christian and the Bible says forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.

“So, if your brother offends you and comes back to apologise, you will forgive. Moreover the conditions are there, and I know that I was innocent even when he made all those allegations.

“If he comes back now to tender an apology to me and also go back to the same news medium that he used to scandalise and vilify me to have the apology published and also meet the condition set by my lawyers, I will certainly forgive him.”

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