Tiv Youth Council Worldwide has faulted the claim by Governor of Samuel Ortom of Benue State, that the recurring farmer-herders clashes were responsible for his inability to deliver democratic dividends in the state.
The President, Mike Msuaan, argued, yesterday, that such an excuse could not hold water since his peers in Borno and Kaduna states that suffered consistent and devastating terrorist attacks were able to commission many legacy projects.
In a congratulatory message to the governor on his 62nd birthday, the group lamented that eight years of Ortom’s administration went down the drain without any symbolic achievement.
It argued that Ortom’s defeat in the recent Benue North senatorial poll spoke volumes of the people’s resentment to his stewardship as governor.
The message reads: “This is a clear indication that the Benue people did not see you in such borrowed robes, and the moment an opportunity cropped up, they rejected you. The celebration that has greeted the victory of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state is a clear testimony. Benue people feel they have been set free from King Pharoah and Egypt.
“How many federal projects have you attracted to the state? Not even one, Your Excellency. The numerous federal projects in the state are as a result of the President’s magnanimous disposition and the efforts of the Minster of Special Duties and Intergovernmental Affairs, Sen. George Akume.”
The council noted that the margin between the winning candidate of APC, Rev. Fr Hyacinth Alia and Ortom’s candidate, Titus Uba, was unprecedented in the state.
It added: “Just when one thought you will begin a remorseful self-examination and begin to seek forgiveness, you introduced a pension bill for yourself aimed at paying you huge sums of monies and other benefits. But you have treated pensioners with disdain. Protests by pensioners, whose only crime is to have served the state meritoriously and to have you as governor within these years, have become almost a daily occurrence in the state. Workers are worse off.
The civil service has been annihilated under your watch.
“As an acclaimed born-again, you failed to understand that there is a time for everything under the sun. In the early days of your administration, you vilified the former governor, Gabriel Suswam, probed him and issued a white paper to indict him. You made him look like a common looter, whose loot was the only reason for your non-performance.”
