Government: Ortom Won’t Depart Benue Following Handover

After turning over authority to the governor-elect, Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Alia, the Benue State Government said that Governor Samuel Ortom will remain in the state.

Vanguard reports that Mr. Micheal Inalegwu, the commissioner for information, culture, and tourism, revealed the information to reporters after the State Executive Council meeting on Tuesday.

After leaving office, he added, the governor would stay in the state for around five months to address any issues that needed his attention.

According to the Vanguard, the Commissioner said that the Governor will officially transfer over power to the next government on Sunday, May 28, in order to leave room for a small ceremony on May 29. The Commissioner said, “And after the handing over ceremony, Governor Ortom will not leave Benue for at least five months.”

He said that the conference also voted to name a 9.7 kilometre road in Makurdi in commemoration of the late Major Gideon Orkar, who staged a failed coup against the government of General Ibrahim Babangida on April 22, 1990.

He said, “We are honouring him because he was a man who looked forward. Everything that is happening now was predicted by the late Gideon Orkar. That 9.7 km road would thus be constructed in his name, he declared.

The Samuel Ortom government was unable to access the roughly N62 billion required to pay back-paying salaries and pensions and begin developing infrastructure projects that other states benefitted from due to the opposition’s politicisation of funds, according to Mr. Inalegwu.