From Attah Ede, Makurdi
The immediate past governor of Benue state, chief Samuel Ortom, on Monday, denied knowledge of any aircraft belonging to Benue State Government, saying he did not inherited an aircraft while taken over as governor of the state in 2015.
Former Governor who spoke through his Media aide, Terver Akase was reacting to a statement credited to the chief press secretary to the incumbent governor,Kula Tersoo, where he alleged that the state has an airplane which whereabout is still unknown.
Akase in a press statement he issued and made available to newsmen in Makurdi, said there was no record of an airplane in the handover notes given to Chief Samuel Ortom in 2015.
The statement reads:
“We read a statement today by the Chief Press Secretary to the Benue State Governor, Hyacinth Alia who alleged among other things that “…he understands the state has an airplane but its whereabouts is still been(sic) looked into”.
“Governor Alia was quoted by his media aide to have made the allegation during a zoom meeting with the Benue diaspora community organized by the Mutual Union of Tiv in America MUTA and the Idoma Association in the United States.
“We want to state categorically that if the Benue State Government purchased an aircraft before Chief Samuel Ortom became Governor in 2015, such a transaction was not part of the handover notes that he received from his predecessor, and no aircraft was handed to the State Government under Ortom.
“Similarly, throughout his two tenures (2015 – 2023), the Ortom administration did not buy an airplane. When he was leaving office, the handover notes he presented to his successor, Governor Alia also had no indication that the state purchased/owned an aircraft.
“An allegation of this nature is too weighty to be swept under the carpet, and only its proof will enable Benue people to know the truth.
“We therefore challenge Governor Alia to show evidence that the Benue State Government owned an aircraft before he became Governor. He should do this with proof of the date and amount paid for the plane, model/manufacturer of the aircraft, as well as the particular administration that purchased it”.
On the Governor’s frequent statements that all his predecessors performed badly and Makurdi, the state capital, was a glorified village before he was elected, Akase stated that the former governor would not bother to comment on that.
He added that if a Governor who is supposed to be the chief image-maker of his state decides to brand it as backward and poorly developed, so be it.
