The Benue State Governor, Rev. Father Hyacinth Alia had lamented that there was alleged massive looting of the Government House in Makurdi by the immediate past administration led by Samuel Ortom, noting that he was left with no single official car.
Terver Akase, the spokesperson to Samuel Ortom, former governor of Benue State, has said that it was the state executive council's decision to allow his principal, his deputy and other officials to go with the vehicles allocated to them.
The Benue State Governor, Rev. Father Hyacinth Alia had lamented that there was alleged massive looting of the Government House in Makurdi by the immediate past administration led by Samuel Ortom, noting that he was left with no single official car.
Alia also stated that he inherited an empty treasury and a whooping huge debt profile of N187.56 billion accompanied by accumulated months of unpaid salaries and entitlements of civil servants and pensioners in the state.
However, Akase in a statement signed on Friday said Ortom did nothing wrong leaving the government house with official vehicles.
“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,” he added.