Wike’s lies catching up with him – Ortom

By Baba Yusuf
Abuja

Governor of Benue state, Samuel Ortom, has declared that his River state counterpart, Nyesom Wike’s lies were already catching up with him.
Ortom’s declaration was contained in a statement issued yesterday by Special Adviser on Media and ICT, Tahav Agerzua.

It read in part: “We read reports planted in a few national dailies on March 30, 2017, attributed to Rivers state Governor, Nyesom Wike, that there were plans to disrupt his road projects in Benue state.
“The reports indicate that Governor Wike’s claim that he was constructing two roads in the state with the intention of ridiculing his Benue state counterpart, Samuel Ortom, was a lie.”

It would be recalled that when he made the amusing claim, Governor Ortom’s Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Terver Akase, promptly challenged him to produce proof of such only for him to plant the reports mentioned above.
“Benue state does not lack road projects under the Ortom administration which has mobilised contractors back to site on 11 roads abandoned by Governor Wike’s Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, regime in the state.

“In spite of the economic recession Governor Ortom is also constructing two major highways and 17 rural roads across the state while contracts have been awarded for six other highways.
“In the first place Governor Wike’s claim was ridiculous because Benue state is not part of his state and even if he had constructed all his roads which is not the case he needed to have contacted stakeholders in Benue state, especially those from the benefitting communities.”

Continuing, it read: “There is no evidence that he did that. The Aliade-Onu-Obarike-Ito-Otukpo is a Benue state road. So, is Wike saying that without the consent of the Benue state government, a governor of another state can simply walk into the state and begin to construct roads? Even the federal government embarks on roads in states with the consent of the governments of the affected states.
“The Benue state government has received no notification regarding the purported construction and no contractor has been mobilised to site for the Makurdi-Naka-Adoka (federal) road contrary to Wike’s claim.

“Another question Governor Wike needs to answer is, was the N4 billion he claims to be spending on Benue roads captured in the 2017 Rivers state Budget?
“His claim that pensioners’ strike in Benue state vindicated his position on Governor Ortom’s lack of capacity to govern effectively bounced back on him yesterday when pensioners in his state staged protests over the same issue accusing him of gross neglect of their plight.’
It added that “in Benue state, however, the pensioners were protesting the non-payment of 70 months arrears which clearly predate the Ortom administration which has been offsetting the backlog.”
“On the whole it’s clear that Governor Wike’s lies are catching up with him.”

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