Benue Govs aide reacts to APC chairman’s comments

Akase said this while reacting to an allegation that those working with Ortom were involved in the killing of two Catholic Priests.

He said “We expected that the national chairman of the ruling party should speak with decorum, he should speak on issues with caution.

“He should speak on matters that would give Nigerians hope not disunite. And he appears to be speaking so much so early and too quickly.

“He, at one point spoke on presidential matters and issues that concern the Federal Executive Council, he speaks on issues concerning Ministers and all that.

“I think he should be advised to concentrate on the job that concerns the office of the national chairman and his party.

“He is not a security man, he is not part of the judiciary, he is not part of the investigative panel that is investigating the people who were arrested over the murder of the two Priests and the 17 worshippers at Mbalon.

“So, we advise the national chairman of the APC to speak on matters that concern his office. That is what would make for good governance in Nigeria.”

Good riddance to bad rubbish

Oshiomhole, in his reaction to Ortom’s defection, said that he is relieved that the Governor left the party.

According to the APC chairman, the Governor’s nomination as the party’s candidate in 2015 was by accident.

Here is what Akase had to say: “You’ll recall that when Governor Ortom met with him in Abuja last week, he described the Governor as an honorable person who has done very well and who is one of the stars of the APC.

“It is on record that he said that. He said all of those things. So the same national chairman cannot turn around to castigate Governor Ortom and call his move as a good radiance to bad rubbish.

“No, the words that he used on Governor Ortom when he was standing beside him have already been inscribed in the minds of Nigerians that Ortom is an honorable person, he is a man who is one of the stars of the APC.

“That is what Nigerians have recorded and not what he is now saying after the Governor defected from the APC.”

Akase also said “Nigerians would recall that Governor Ortom was widely applauded for introducing an amnesty programme in the early life of this administration which disarmed hundreds of youths with over 1,000 arms and ammunition recovered from the repentant youths which were eventually destroyed in public glare.

“The same Governor cannot turn round to arm youths of the state. So that allegation by the National Chairman of the APC is very unfortunate because it is coming from a man Nigerians expect to speak with caution since security agencies are still investigating the matter.

“We all know that no one has been convicted over that matter yet, so is Adams Oshiomhole saying that he has seen the investigation report, that he is privy to the court verdict that would later be passed on the suspects?

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“Is he telling us that he has seen the investigation report or what? What does he know that we do not know? So if he has jumped into conclusion that the suspects were sponsored by the Governor, then it means that either the investigation into the matter has been compromised or that he is influencing it. If not, how would he have known that the people who are being investigated were sponsored by the Governor?

“Benue people know who their killers are, and these people are sponsored by Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore and other Miyetti Allah groups.

“We have, at several times, called for their arrest, so that statement by the National Chairman of the APC is not statesmanly, it is very unfortunate and unbecoming.”

Governor Samuel Ortom announced his defection from the APC to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Wednesday, July 25, 2018.