Ortom
Benue State governor, Samuel Ortom has replied former Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Abubakar Tsav over his claim that he (Ortom) was involved in roads contract scam.
Tsav had in a recent statement accused the governor of embezzling money meant for construction of roads in Benue.
Reacting to the allegation, Ortom in a statement issued by his Media Aide, Tahav Agerzua described the claims made by Tsav as blatant lies.
According to him, there was no iota of truth in the claim by the former police chief.
The statement reads in full:
“When we were young, the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, FRCN, used to run a jingle that said ‘the words of our elders are words of wisdom, the wise hear and get wiser.’
“In Benue State there is an elder whose words do not fall into this category.
“Indeed, the words of Mr. Augustine Danmagana Alhaji Abubakar Tsav can be anything but words of wisdom.
“At best they are tissues of lies and mischief orchestrated by a man whose kinsmen have since ostracized.
“The former police commissioner is currently executing a contract from his pay masters and leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party to deliberately malign and cast aspersions on the integrity of Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom.
“Contrary to Alhaji Tsav’s claim that Governor Ortom has no courage on account of skeletons in his cupboard to extend probes to include the tenure of former Governor George Akume, the inquiries are direct responses to the demand of the electorate to know why the state has been brought to the present brink by the immediate past administration.
“Those in his school of thought ought to also realize that Dr. Akume did not handover to Governor Ortom.
“Moreover, close watchers of events in Benue State can testify that never in the history of the state have the people fared any worse with the total collapse of government machinery and institutions with attendant untold hardship on the people.
“Such was the decay that the people rose up with one voice to reject an inept and corrupt leadership with the leader of the party woefully losing a senatorial bid in addition to his party’s overwhelming defeat at the polls.
“The aftermath of the misrule has become an Augean stable that is a herculean task to clean.
“While at the task those who perpetrated the atrocities against the people have resorted to the services of irritants and mischievous people including Alhaji Tsav to cause distractions by embarking on sustained smear campaigns.
“At no time did Governor Ortom collect any monies on the construction of any road in Guma or any other local government area in Benue State or elsewhere without executing the job as alleged by the former policeman.
“The Governor also denies defrauding any local government area through one Thomas Adejo and using the proceeds to set up Oracle Press Limited.
“The rule is that he who alleges must also prove.
“He puts Alhaji Tsav to the strictest proof of all the allegations and the figures being circulated around.
“Governor Ortom has never been associated with violence and waste of human life, rather he is known as a life saver through his numerous humanitarian activities.
“A man who kept quiet for eight years in the face of despoliation of the land only to wake up suddenly and begin to attack an administration in the early days of its tenure surely has strange motives.”
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