Benue Governor, Ortom Has Turned Makurdi Into Refuse Dump – Tsav

Former Lagos State Police Commissioner, Abubakar Tsav has accused Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom of not achieving anything in the five years of his stewardship as state chief executive.

Tsav made the accusation in an interview with THE WHISTLER on Monday while speaking on governance in the state.

According to Tsav, who also hails from the state, Makurdi which is the state capital, was ‘like a city devastated by war’, adding that the town looked like ‘a refuse dump’ because of lack of development.

He said the state capital lack industries and pipe borne water among several other infrastructure deficit.

He said: “If you go to other states and see the development going on there, there is no development here, Makurdi is just like a city devastated by war, nothing is happening, the town itself is like a refuse dump, there is no industries, no pipe borne water, the citizens depend on government subsistence, no any other job to do, what kind of state is that? How long are we going to continue?

“The man who is ruling us now has spent about five years, what has he done? Nothing whatsoever, and there is no check and balance to check his administration.”

The former police commissioner also advocated for power shift to other parts of the state in order for it to have good leadership.

He lamented that all the past leaders of the state came from one ethnic group, who have not made much impact as leaders, and vowed to work for the actualization of a governor of Idoma extraction in the 2023 general elections.

The Idomas are from Benue South Senatorial District, otherwise known as zone c.

The state, since its creation in February 1976 has been under the governance of the Tivs, the largest ethnic group in the state.

Tsav, who is also a tiv, believed that a shift of power to the Idomas, who are the second larget ethnic group in the state, would give the state the opportunity to test new leadership.

“We should also try the Idomas too, to find out if they can also do that, because since the creation of Benue State, no Idoma man has ruled or governed it. So, we have the best rulers amongst them,” Tsav said.

“Yes, they should be given an opportunity. Exactly what I mean.”

“You see, Benue will not get it right when we keep on watching the wrong people in power. We have intellectuals in Benue, among the Tiv people, among the Idomas, among the Igedes, and unless we give the right people leadership, otherwise things will go on bad. The problem we have in Nigeria is that our constitution allows the governors to steal as much as they want, there is no control system, we don’t have people who are good enough to rule us.”

On if the Tivs will be happy with his stand, Tsav said “I have an opinion and am bound to express my opinion. The thing is, when we continue putting mediocre people to rule, our problems will continue to magnify. The right people should come and rule. When Aper Aku came on board, he did everything, establishment of industries, creation of investment for Benue State, but now all those things have been destroyed because we have the wrong people in government.”

Idoma and Governorship Agitation

Since its creation in 1976, Benue State has produced five democratically elected governors, all of whom were from the Tiv speaking area of the state. There are Aper Aku (late, 1979 – 1983) Moses Adasu (late, 1992 -1993) George Akume (1999-2017), Gabriel Suswam (2007 – 2015), Samuel Ortom (2015 -date).

Benue state comprises of 23 local government areas, with the Tivs occupying 14, while the Idomas hold nine.

Only recently, the senator representing Benue South Senatorial District at the National Assembly, Abba Moro again called on the Idoma people not to relent in their determination to clinch the Benue governorship seat in 2023.

Moro said in doing this, there was need for the Idoma people to court the support of their Tiv brothers to realise the dream of having an Idoma man as governor of the state come 2023, and beyond.