“Ortom did nothing unlawful leaving with official vehicles allocated to him” ― Aide tells Hyacinth Alia

Terver Akase, an aide to the former governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom, has cautioned the newly elected governor of the State, Hyacinth Alia over his comment that his principal left office with all official vehicles allocated to him.

Akase who countered the governor in a statement on Friday said that Ortom did nothing unlawful leaving with the vehicles and according to him, it was the decision of the state executive council to allow Ortom, his deputy and officials to go with the vehicles allocated to them.

Former governor of Benue State, Samuel OrtomRecall that Hyacinth Alia, Benue governor who won the 2023 governorship election in the state under the All Progressives Congress, APC, had accused Ortom’s administration of looting, alleging that he “met no single car or truck in the government house”.

Reacting to Hyacinth Alia’s statement, Akase said “In his latest outing, the governor has accused his predecessor of carrying out recruitment into the civil service without due process; handing to him an empty treasury and looting government vehicles, among several other unfounded accusations,” Akase said.

“The present administration may wish to be informed that it was the decision of the Benue state executive council that government officials, including the governor and his deputy, be given waivers to enable them to go with the official vehicles allocated to them.

“Governor Ortom, therefore, did nothing unlawful by leaving office with the official vehicles allocated to him.

“It is a tradition that an outgoing governor leaves with vehicles given to him. Perhaps we should add that the Ortom administration offered to buy vehicles for the incoming government but the present governor declined, saying that he would prefer to buy vehicles for his administration after the inauguration.”

On the issue of sacked appointees and workers, Akase said Ortom’s government followed due process in recruiting the workers.

“While we won’t go into a war of words with the governor despite the media trial, it is pertinent to clarify that the Ortom administration followed due process in recruiting the workers whom the present government sacked a few days ago,” he said.

“Vacancies were duly advertised in national newspapers and those who applied for the jobs were properly interviewed/screened and the successful ones were given appointment letters as required by civil service rules.

“Promotions were also carried out according to the laid down service regulations.

“We expected the Alia administration to specifically point out the areas where it claimed that due process was not followed in the recruitments, instead of making sweeping statements and spurious generalisations.”