Alia, Ortom Disagree Over Alleged Benue’s Missing N139.8bn

Benue State Governor Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Alia and his predecessor, Chief Samuel Ortom, have expressed divergent views over a report of the income and expenditure commission of injury set up by Alia which alleged that over N139.8 billion was unaccounted for by Ortom who governed the state from 2015 to 2023.

The commission established by Governor Alia in 2015 had summited it findings, alleging that over N139.8 billion was unaccounted for by the then government of Samuel Ortom.

Chairman of the commission, retired Justice Jubril Idrisu, while submitting the report at the Government House in Makurdi on Friday, said records showed that the state generated over N826.5 billion in revenue, while expenditure stood at about N683.4 billion.

But Ortom yesterday described the report as a politically motivated witch-hunt designed to tarnish the image of his administration.

In a statement issued yesterday by his media assistant, Zege Paul Terhide, he accused the Alia administration of using the probe to distract attention from what it described as three years of failed governance.

He claimed that the report was the culmination of a carefully scripted process intended to indict his administration.

However, Governor Alia’s chief press secretary, Sir Tersoo Kula, in a statement faulting Ortom and his team, said during his tenure, Ortom constituted the Justice Elizabeth Kpojime commission of inquiry to investigate the administration of former governor Gabriel Suswam.

Kula said that commission made its findings and presented its recommendations to Ortom for further action, and to date, legal proceedings arising from the probe were ongoing.

‎‎The statement said having embraced the principle of probing a predecessor while in office, it was difficult to understand why the same principle had suddenly become objectionable to Ortom when applied to his administration.

‎‎Kula said the attempt by Ortom’s media handlers to portray the exercise as a diversionary tactic designed to distract from governance challenges was equally unconvincing.

He said, “Accountability is not a witch-hunt. It is a fundamental pillar of democratic governance. Those who once demanded it from others should not object when it is demanded of them.

‎“Benue State’s income and expenditure commission of inquiry has uncovered N139.8 billion in unaccounted public funds income and expenditure between 2015 and 2023.

“This is an established fact and instead of ranting in the media space, Ortom and his team should be honourable enough to refund the money to Benue coffers,” he added.