I won’t respond to Wike again, says Ortom

The Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, has said he will henceforth not respond to the outbursts of his counterpart in Rivers State, Governor Nyesom Wike.

The two governors had been on each other’s throat in the last one week.

Wike had called on the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency on Benue State over killings and destruction of property in the state.

He further called on Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to investigate the Paris Club refund to Benue State, accusing Ortom of not meeting the yearnings of his people.

Ortom had replied to the calls stating that the killings in Rivers were far more than the ones in Benue and that Wike was using the Benue issue to divert attention from his failure in governance.

While speaking on Wednesday at the swearing-in of five permanent secretaries at Government House, Makurdi, Ortom said some people who were not comfortable with the transparent character of his administration and compliance with due process had resorted to recruiting persons within and outside the state to cast aspersions on him.

“They are not happy because I am honest and transparent; union leaders sit on the table with us to do the sharing each time we receive allocation; they are against me because of all these.”

The governor said he would not exchange words with a governor who did not believe in the rule of law and assured Benue people that he would continue to resist temptations aimed at distracting his attention from good governance.

Speaking on the anti-grazing bill before the state assembly, Ortom said he would not encourage open grazing in Benue where there was no land for such.

Ortom said the bill was subjected to public hearing to get inputs from the people and stressed that it would not ban people from coming to the state because that would be against the constitution.

He warned the new permanent secretaries against converting public funds into personal use and reiterated his earlier statement that he would not shield anyone involved in fraudulent practice.

The permanent secretaries who were sworn in were Mr. Elvis Attah, Dr. Elijah Sase, Mrs. Veronica Onyeke, Mr. Iduh Adams and Mr. Francis Tile.

Source: Punch