A pressure group, Tiv Youth Advancement Vanguard (TYAV) has accused Benue state governor, Samuel Ortom of plotting to imprison his predecessor, Senator Gabriel Suswam over his ambition to retain the structure of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) ahead of 2023 general elections.
The group, citing the refusal of Suswam to give the PDP ticket to Ortom in 2015 and the fears that he would want to anoint a candidate for the governorship in 2023, said the governor was lobbying the graft agencies to ensure that Suswam goes to prison over alleged cases of corruption against him when he serve as governor of the state for eight years.
Governor Ortom was denied the PDP primary ticket for the 2015 general election and he later defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) and won the election but returned to the PDP before the end of his first term in office.
The group in a statement signed by its convener, Tyohemba Denen, expressed worry that the governor’s vindictive posturing was not in the interest of the state but his personal ambition that could deprive the Benue North east senatorial zone of representation in the senate.
It alleged further that though the governor toned down his vendetta against Suwam to curry support for his second term bid, he is now using cronies to stoke up fire for cases of corruption he instigated against him.
“We are worried that Governor Ortom who boasted in a leaked audio tape with Senator George Akume that he (Ortom) was responsible for closing of Akume’s corruption case with the EFCC and has refused to do same for Senator Suswam.
“Governor Ortom stretched his vendetta against Suswam by setting up a powerful judicial panel of enquiry led by Justice Elizabeth kpojime to investigate the tenure of Suswam who was governor between May 29th, 2007 and May 29th, 2015. The panel stated that stole N107 billion of Benue money.”
