By Tyodoo Livinus
The office of the Benue State Governor, Hyacinth Alia has been churning out a series of press statements lately, which many discerning minds feel should be the least preoccupation of that exalted office at this moment.
The statements from the Governor’s chief press secretary, one Tersoo Kula, apparently seek to win laurels through uncouth use of words on the immediate past Governor, Chief Samuel Ortom.
The main aim is to reduce Ortom’s public standing even with outlandish and unsubstantiated vitriol.
The former Governor’s political crime this time seems to be his rapprochements with longstanding associates, particularly the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume.
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Discerning political minds wonder the resurgence of this Ortombashing. They know that when the right time of reckoning comes, as it surely will, Governor Alia’s assessment of his predecessor will not extricate him from the demands of the Benue electorate.
Ortom should therefore, be the least of Alia’s worries at this time. Even if the former Governor had performed without blemish, his time as Governor has come and gone forever.
It is public knowledge that Governor Ortom could not pay salaries, pensions and gratuities promptly as Nigeria plunged into two recessions and the allocations to states dropped to an all time low. There was also infrastructural deficit during his tenure, no doubt, but there must have been something which endeared Ortom to the Benue electorate who gave him a second term.
With a resurgence of his popularity in the Benue polity there is definitely something that with a comparison the people seem to cherish about him. For instance, Ortom as Governor, first on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, and later the Peoples Democratic Party, neither promoted nor encouraged division within the ranks of his party platforms. He also worked in synergy with the leaders of his party at a particular time and all its elected officials. His successor keeps creating enemies and multiplying them by the day since the very day of his assumption of office.
The contrast with Governor Alia is like day and night. Many think that the resolution of the plethora of court cases bothering on who controls the APC in Benue State should be the major concern of Governor Alia and not which devil Ortom chooses to dine with, which indeed is his Constitutional right.
For the first time in the history of Benue State, there is the unfortunate and needless development where a political party has challenged local government polls conducted by a state government controlled by that very party. It has never happened, not just in Benue State but elsewhere in the entire Nigeria. But this is the exact situation in Benue State where the APC is divided against itself and is challenging the legitimacy of its candidates declared winners of the last local government elections and sworn in. Many think that this ought to be the nightmare of Governor Alia.
Former Governor Samuel Ortom, in all the years of his so-called infamy which Alia’s CPS listed, never increased the Governor’s approval limit of N50 million set by the State Executive Council since 2003. This made it imperative for him to hold regular EXCO meetings which gave approvals for expenditure that exceeded his limit. Governor Alia increased the approval limit to N250 million which makes it easy for him to simply break one billion into four memos and approve, making the input of the Executive Council unnecessary.
It can also be recalled that at the onset of his administration, Governor Alia awarded many contracts amounting to billions before heinaugurated the state executive council.
When Ortom was Governor, he never earned the reputation of someone who had no respect for time and protocol. He made efforts to attend events on his schedule of engagements on time and complied with schedules drawn by the Protocol Department of Government House. Those who have to deal with the current Benue State Governor have contrary tales of woe regarding his disdain for time and protocol.
The former Governor, and indeed all previous Governors of Benue State never arrogated supreme powers of expenditure to themselves as the current state chief executive has done. Since he assumed office, Governor Alia has closed all the accounts of Ministries, Departments and Agencies. Even with the resolutions of the Benue State House of Assembly, the accounts have remained closed slowing down the pace of government operations as all financial transactions have to pass through one man – the Governor. When the time of reckoning comes, as it surely will, Governor Alia will have a lot of explanation himself, personally.
All who had official or private business with Ortom as Governor can testify that he was accessible. One could reach him in person, through text or Whatsapp, his appointees, friends and at public occasions. Those who have had to deal with Reverend Father Dr. Hyacinth Iormem Alia cannot vouch for his accessibility, not even his highest government officials.
However, the Benue electorate appreciates the provision of the much needed infrastructure by the Alia administration. Indeed the security of lives and property as well as provision of critical infrastructure remains the primary mandate of government. With the quantum of resources accruing to the coffers of the states arising from the removal of fuel subsidies, much more is being expected.
Many expect that if the Governor would be in good terms with the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator Akume, the Minister of Water Resources, Professor Joseph Utsev and other appointees at the federal level as well as members of the National Assembly, he can achieve much more.
For Alia’s press scribe to limit his assessment of Ortom’s impact in Benue State to only the eight years of his two terms as Governor amounts to not reckoning properly with history. Ortom had been council chairman, state and national party executive, minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and founder of the Oracle conglomerate. On this platforms, he has impacted positively on numerous lives over the years. Take the treatment of snake bite victims as only one example.
As an active politician, Ortom also knows very well that in the game there should be no permanent friend or foe, only interest. He reconciled with Senator Gabriel Suswam in 2018 and reaped the benefit of that reconciliation the very next year – his reelection. His rapprochement with Senator Akume at this point of his political career is the proper thing to do. Only political neophytes will fail to understand what is happening.
It will serve Governor Alia better to examine himself and make amends in his politics rather than dragging Ortom to the mud. He who is down already needs not fear any fall.
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The people have compared the politics of their leaders and seem to be going with Senator Akume and former Governor Ortom. Taking the man through media and court trials will at best amount to unprofitable political investment.
