Governor Ortom’s aide berates EFCC for freezing Benue government’s account, says investigation should start from presidency

– The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has frozen the bank accounts belonging to the government of Benue state

– The EFCC claims it secured a court order for its action, saying the security vote of the state was being investigated

– Chief press secretary to Benue state governor, Mr Terver Akase, however says, the action of the EFCC is a political witch-hunt

The chief press secretary to the Benue state governor, Mr Terver Akase has reacted to the freezing of the state government’s accounts by the EFCC.

Akase says the action of the anti-graft commission is a political witch-hunt against his principal after he defected from the All Progressives Congress (APC) to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

According to him, “the action of EFCC is already having negative impact on the running of government in Benue state. It is a move that will affect salaries, pensions and other sundry payments.”

He queried: “The question we are asking is; why did EFCC not investigate the governor’s security votes when he was still a member of APC? Why start the investigation now?”

He advised the EFCC not to “allow itself to be used as an attack dog unleashed against perceived political opponents.”

“Let the federal government tell us how much it has spent on prosecuting the fight against Boko Haram and how much it spent on the other operations such as Python Dance, Crocodile Smile and Whirl Stroke.

“Benue has suffered heavy attacks by Fulani herdsmen since the beginning of the year. Within the period, the state government has spent a lot to legitimately support security agencies to protect the people of the state. Governor Ortom has not diverted funds. He runs a transparent administration.

“We welcome the investigation, but as I said earlier, it should start from the presidency and go across the 36 states. Benue should not be singled out for victimization, intimidation and harassment as the federal government with its agencies is currently doing,” he said.

Meanwhile, Governor Ortom has described the sack of the Director General of Department for State Services (DSS), Lawal Daura, as a step in the right direction.

Governor Ortom says the sack of the DSS boss was long expected, following the manner Daura ran the service.

He urged the presidency to also look into operations of other security agencies to save the country from the current wave of impunity.

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