The immediate past Governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom, has accused his successor, Hyacinth Alia, of doing everything to frustrate him a few days before his handing over.
Ortom was reacting to Alia’s several allegations of mismanagement against him.
He charged his successor to focus on governing the people of the state rather than looking for a scapegoat.
In a statement by his spokesman, Terver Akase, Ortom said: “In his latest outing, the Governor has accused his predecessor of carrying out recruitment into the civil service without due process, handing him an empty treasury, and looting government vehicles, among several other unfounded accusations.
“The present governor did everything to frustrate his predecessor, to the point of writing to banks not to honour any transaction by the outgoing government. Even at that, the Ortom administration still funded the May 29 inauguration.
“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.
“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.
“On the issue of vehicles, 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.”
