Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
The All Progressives Congress (APC) National Chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole has officially reacted to the recent defection of the Benue state governor Samuel Ortom, to the People Democratic Party (PDP), nothing that he reduced governance to Nollywood.
He equally challenged him to show one single project completed under him in the past three years.
Oshiomhole told the APC members who want to defect from the party that they are free to go, adding that there is no Catholic marriage.”
Addressing a press conference last night at the national secretariat of APC in Abuja, Oshiomhole declared that the party discovered through the APC leaders in Benue that governor Ortom could not mention just one project he has commissioned since his assumption of office.
“If a governor confessed that he shared government money to party leaders, is that the reasons he will be re-elected? Then if he has shared the government money with party leaders then the party leaders should try to keep in in office by guarantee him the ticket since he shared the money with them.
“If on the other hand he claimed that he refused to share the money, good therefore what have you done with the money? You couldn’t pay the workers salaries with the money you refused to share, have you built more roads for the people of Benue state? What have you accomplished with these bailout fund and the Paris fund?
“So let me assure that what I do promised, and please mark my word each time I speak, that negotiable and verifiable grievances we would address. And I said we won’t deny somebody ticket on account of a conflict between him and any other person if he is at home with his people, even yesterday I emphasized that. When people say automatic ticket, does it guarantee automatic victory when people are against you? I said so. Because we didn’t give you departure ticket, so how are we going to gice you a return ticket?
“So, I couldn’t assure gov Ortom that we will overrule the position of our members and leaders in Benue state that come 2019 we will give him ticket. I wanted to simply cross check with him in the allegations made against him and he was to come by Wednesday that is why he organised that drama. And that tells you the quality of reasoning, with all due respect to Governor Ortom, how can you reduce governance to Nollywood, saying hen I wanted to go to Abuja to meet with the National Working
“From the point of view of our leaders in Benue state, their position was clear that they believe that fielding Gov. Ortom on the APC platform in the 2019 election can only lead to electoral defeat for a number of reasons.
“They reminded us that in spite of the allocations accruing to Benue state and in spite of the bail out funds amounting to over N20 billion that they had received in two instalments of N10 billion each and in addition to the huge sums of money that Benue State collected from the Paris Club Refund, Gov. Ortom has not, and is not paying salaries to Benue workers as and when due, including teachers, local government employees and the state civil servants.
“He is owing some of them as much as 12 months salary, some more than 16 months and so the entire economy of Benue state that survives largely on civil servants salaries is to that extent compromised.
“Of course, what is not readily obvious to many, and which they told us, is the fact that most of our elders who have built houses as part of their retirement plans and who expect to live on rent paid by civil servants who are tenants, the fact that the entire civil service in Benue state are not being paid means that they in turn are defaulting in the payments of their rents and you know the implication of this on traders and the commercial life of Benue state. This element alone substantially explains the vicious cycle of poverty in Benue state that has been deepened under Gov. Ortom.”
While challenging Governor Ortom to name one project he started and completed within the three years, the APC National Chairman said: “Gov. Ortom played up the ethnic dimension of criminality whereas in truth, some of those who have been killed were killed not by Muslims, they were killed by Christians of Benue state origin, including those he has employed. So, his attempt to explain away criminality by playing up ethnic sentiments is not helpful to what he should do as governor to manage the situation better.
“After all, those in Benue state have always been there by whatever description and therefore, Gov. Ortom’s predecessors including Gov. Suswam had found ways to manage this diversity. So, Ortom’s incapacity to manage it and even to seek to make political capital of the death of Benue people is most unfortunate because I believe that even in politics, there should be a level of morality.”
Committee but my people have blocked the road that I will not go. When has it become a case that when a governor want to travel it is on the radio that he is travelling and this is the purpose.”