Minister of special duties and intergovernmental affairs, Senator George Akume has disclosed that Asiwaju/Shettima Government has made a strong promise to help Benue State to rebuild, restart and to recover from the eight years of waste, neglect and hopelessness of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Akume who disclosed this after the declaration of the gubernatorial results in which the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Revd.Fr Hyacinth Iormem Alia was declared the winner, said the outcome of the election is a clear indication that the people were tired of the PDP administration.
“Let me first of all say that politics is about the interest of the people. And when the people are not happy, they speak just as they did loud and clear that this is the time for change and that was basically what was expressed last week Saturday.
“The people are expecting so much from this government, that is the incoming government. At my own personal level, I was so thrilled about what has happened and I also expect that the new government will live according to the expectations and aspirations of the people of Benue who have suffered incalculable damage for the past eight years,” he said.
The minister said, the people are totally committed to the change from the ancient regime in Benue State to a new dawn where development is central to the administration of the state to the benefit of the people.
When asked to rate Ortom’s administration, given that he brought him to power, the senator said, “I made a covenant that I will not comment about the Ortom’s administration. I didn’t help Ortom to become governor, he was put into office by the Holy Spirit. I wasn’t the one, it was the Holy Spirit that made him the governor, So I don’t want to talk about it.”
He maintained that, “When issues of religion are involved, as a Christian I need to be very careful. Is it true that the holy spirit did that? It was Ortom who said the Holy Spirit did that. Initially, it looked like I was the one because that was the story, but it later moved to the Holy Spirit, so when it gets to that level, I withdrew because as a God-fearing person one needs to be careful. That’s all I have to say.”
The minister said, “The incoming Governor has an elaborate plan for the people of Benue State, he is the son of the soil, he is aware of the problems that has confronted us, the difficulties that we have faced and the deficiencies observed and the position of essential amenities and the provision of health care service, the issue of education among others. There are so many issues that are begging for a solution here.
“Benue State is basically an agricultural state and the incoming governor has rich programmes with agricultural content and this is in synergy with the Asiwaju/Shettima administration.
On the issue of the high debt profile of the state the senator said there are good and bad debts. So, we will look at the good ones. The bad debts, for those who approved them, that is their business, but the good ones, we look for ways of rescheduling and that is where the committee will have to come in. A new government of APC is the dawn of progressiveness, a dawn of development, a dawn of prosperity. Benue will bounce back; I assure you of that.”
