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… challenges him to account for his political stewardship

A socio-cultural organisation, Tiv Youth Council Worldwide has felicitated the executive governor of Benue State, Dr Samuel Ortom on the occasion of his 61st birthday.

In a birthday message signed by the President of the Council, Hon. Mike Msuaan and
made available to journalists on Saturday, the group thanked God for granting His Excellency health of mind and body as well as the capacity to governor the state.

“His Excellency, we wish to join your family, friends, well-wishers, political associates and Benue state in celebrating you on your 61st birthday anniversary. It is our prayer that God will continue to bless and keep you. No doubt you have enjoyed His Grace. He has taken you from Grass to Grace”, the statement noted.

The group recalled God’s divine protection over the governor in the course of his stewardship, particularly thanking God for saving the governor from the hands of bandits, terrorists and road mishaps. Those events the group concluded were divine acts from a loving God who not only protects but gives us multiple chances to us, even in our sinfulness.

“Last year, in a practical demonstration of his Grace He enabled you to trek 5 kilometres and still run 1.5 kilometres when your attackers laid ambush on you in the forest. Even their bullets passed you FION FION FION, in fulfilment of the Biblical protection in Psalm 91: 7 that ‘a thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. In saving your life during several other instances, God was giving you more time, perhaps to serve humanity more”, the statement added.

The group equally challenged the governor to use the occasion of his birthday and age to reflect on his legacies as a person, having spent more than 40 years in the political space. Adding that it is time for him to build lasting positive legacies that he will be remembered for as his time on earth is already far spent.

“At 61, you have reached the age when a leader or someone begins to think and work more for the legacies he would be remembered for. It is most compelling when you are a leader. This is also the time one retires from active service to enjoy his/her pension and other benefits. On this day of your birth, and as you approach 7 years in office, you must reflect on your life and most importantly your stewardship as governor and see if you have left Benue and the Tiv nation better than when you assumed office in terms of projects, federal appointments and presence”, the statement added.

On security, the group invited the governor to interrogate himself and see whether his nickname Defender of the Venue Valley is just a political appellation since Benue has been the flashpoint of militia, cult and terrorist attacks led by Fulani mercenaries with many indigenes in IDP camps.

“While the security vote allocated to the state has remained huge, the killings, displacements and refugee crisis in Benue have continued to be worse than has ever been witnessed before under your watch as the purported defender of the Benue Valley”, the statement added.

While holding the governor to account for his campaign promises, the group reminded Governor Ortom of his promise to transform Benue from an agrarian to an industrial state noting with resignation the fact that there is no cottage industry that the present administration has established or attracted to Benue.

“Sir, during your campaign, you promised to move Benue from a civil service state to an industrial hub using your experience as an entrepreneur and erstwhile minister of trade and investment. About a year to the end of your tenure, not even a cottage industry has been built or revived, rather you have slated industries built by your predecessors for sale in a nebulous privatization bid. The only industry in the state; the Civil service has continued to nosedive under your watch. Your experience as minister of Trades and later Aviation have brought nothing to the Benue people as pain and misery”, the statement added.

The socio-cultural organisation decried the state of civil service in Benue where salaries are owed indefinitely and pensions denied to senior citizens without any tangible reason, describing it as a heartless way of paying back the electorates for trusting one with leadership. The group reminded the governor that he cannot be a Christian and delay the labourer’s wages.

“The civil servants and pensioners who moved you to tears during your campaign have continued to protest on the street of Makurdi, the state capital for numerous months and for some years of protracted non-payment of pensions and salaries. This is against all the Holy Books of Christianity and Islam. This is time to correct these ugly cycles in your political life and rewrite the history of your legacies”, the statement added.

The group also drew the governor’s attention to his social interactions and how he relates with his political associates, observing that, there seems to be a trend of betrayals and backstabbing that’s unbecoming of one who should be investing in people and helping them grow.

“Your Excellency, we have noticed a certain trend, your friends have not really benefited from God’s grace in your life. Last time, you embarked on a decamping journey with Chief Gemade and Hon. Udende, at a point it looked like you abandoned them and got your ticket just alone. Sadly, Hon. Dickson Tarkighir who also left with you was defeated in a primary election before your very eyes. At the moment pastor Terwase Orbunde, Prof. Ityavyar and Hon. Terver Akase who served you faithfully and hoped one of them will get your blessings to secure the ticket of your party for the 2023 elections have become stranded and left in the storms.

“Again, you have fought all the past governors of the state. In the morning of your tenure, you fought Sen. Suswam to a standstill. A probe was instituted against his administration and he was indicated, till today some of the cases your government instituted against him are still before judges in court. At a point, you were fingered as the mastermind of his detention by the security agencies for 72 days. Sen. George Akume, another former governor of the State, who made you governor has not also been spared of your venom. You fought him and even boasted that you have retired him from politics. Many people hold the opinion that if Aku of blessed memory were alive, you would have fought him too. Some people hold the opinion that for listing the legacies of Aku for sale, you have succeeded in fighting all former governors; dead and alive”, the statement added.

As a multicultural state, the group wondered if the governor’s verbal profession of unity is not just a mere facade as many events in the recent past have presented him as a partial bigot who has no interest in a united and socially harmonious Benue. Adding that merely adorning the traditional costumes of cultural groups in Benue without having the unity of Benue at heart is a scam.

“Your Excellency, you are popular for parading a unity cap and clothing signifying your desire for a united Benue. Recently, your deputy governor questioned your sincerity to this when you presented the consensus candidate of the 14 Tiv speaking LGA to stakeholders holders of the party. The chairman of the Benue Rebirth movement, AVM Monday Morgan accused you of pursuing an ethnic agenda against the Idoma people of the state. Sir, by failing to manage this, you will be placing the consensus candidate of the Tiv speaking LGA in a contest with your deputy Engr Abonu, an Idoma person. This will exacerbate the ethnic division between the Tivs and the Idoma. You clearly understand how politics divide people and brings bitterness between them. It is high time you reverse this ugly trend and leave a positive legacy behind”, the statement urged.

The organisation finally called on the governor to reflect on his entire, especially his political career and ask how many people he has empowered, how many he has given federal jobs, how many federal projects he has attracted to the state, whether he has fulfilled his campaign promises to the Benue people and see if he has truly lived an impactful and meaningful life.

“Your Excellency, you boast of a political career spanning 40 years, as an entrepreneur and politician, the time has come for you to reflect and count the people you have empowered within these years. As a socio- cultural organization, we are concerned with the unity and socio-political evolution of the Tiv Nation and Benue at large. We are even more worried now that divisive tones have become resounding in the country”, the statement concluded.