Ortom Fires Back At ₦139.8 Billion Allegation, Labels Probe ‘Political Witch-Hunt’

Former governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom, has condemned a report alleging that his administration left about ₦139.8 billion unaccounted for.

Naija News reports that Zege Paul Terhide, a media assistant to Ortom, stated that the account released by the Benue State Income and Expenditure Commission of Inquiry was a political witch-hunt.

Speaking via a statement, he asserted that the  Committee was designed from the outset to indict his government, insisting it was politically motivated.

Ortom said that, worthy of note, the matter is pending at the Court of Appeal, with a hearing scheduled for 29th June, 2026, while the state government has also approached the Supreme Court to challenge an Appeal Court decision that nullified the constitution of its probe panels.

Ortom, who described the presentation of the report as a “fanfare”, explained that ordinarily, he would have ignored “yet another episode in the Hyacinth Alia administration’s continued obsession with his predecessor’s government.”

“However, the desperate attempt to confer legitimacy on a process that is fundamentally flawed, legally challenged, and politically motivated compels a response.

“Let it be stated clearly that what the people of Benue witnessed that was not an exercise in accountability. It was the culmination of a carefully scripted political witch-hunt designed from the outset to indict the government of Chief Samuel Ortom at all costs”, he cried out.

“More importantly, there is a subsisting matter before the Court of Appeal on the same issues, with a hearing scheduled for June 29, 2026. In addition, the Benue State Government itself approached the Supreme Court to challenge an Appeal Court decision that nullified the constitution of its probe panels established to investigate the previous administration. The matter of appeal remains pending before the apex court.

“It is therefore astonishing that a government which voluntarily submitted itself to the jurisdiction of the courts would, in the same breath, proceed as though those judicial processes do not exist. This conduct betrays a disturbing lack of confidence in the judiciary and amounts to executive rascality of the highest order.

“Rather than await the outcome of matters pending before competent courts, Governor Alia and his administration chose to abandon the path of law and embark on a media spectacle intended to achieve through propaganda what they have been unable to achieve through due process.

“Rather than allow the courts to determine the issues raised, the administration dissolved the original panels and constituted a new one under a different name.

“Even the current Commission, whose report was presented (on Friday),, was served with notices arising from pending legal proceedings challenging the legitimacy of the exercise.”

 “The timing of this so-called report is not accidental.

“After three years in office, Governor Alia’s administration has little to showcase in terms of tangible achievements. Faced with mounting public concerns over insecurity, the plight of internally displaced persons, declining public confidence, industrial disputes in the education sector, and questions surrounding the management of enormous financial resources that have accrued to the state between May 29, 2023 and now, the government has resorted to making the Ortom administration the centrepiece of its governance agenda,” he stated.

Lamented the blame game by the Alia administration, he stressed that “Whenever questions are asked about the over ₦1.3 trillion that has accrued to Benue State under the present administration, Governor Alia and his appointees quickly blame Ortom.

“Rather than weaponizing probes against the previous government, the Alia administration should account for the ₦1.3 trillion that has accrued to it in the last three years. Accountability begins with explaining your own record, not attacking others.

“Whenever the administration struggles to explain its performance after three years in office, it blames Ortom; whenever insecurity worsens and communities continue to suffer attacks, the Alia government blames Ortom; whenever public dissatisfaction grows, it blames Ortom.”