The immediate past governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom, has officially rejected the findings of the Benue State Income and Expenditure Commission of Inquiry, dismissing the entire exercise as a calculated attempt to smear his reputation.
In a sharply worded statement released by his media aide, Terver Akase, the former governor alleged that the panel was orchestrated by the current administration of Governor Hyacinth Alia to achieve predetermined political motives.
”The judicial commission of inquiry was not set up to find the truth, but to manufacture a narrative that fits the current administration’s agenda of victimization,” the statement read.
Ortom’s camp argued that the composition and conduct of the panel lacked fairness, claiming it denied his administration a proper right to fair hearing.
The former governor asserted that the probe is an attempt by Governor Alia to deflect public attention away from his own administration’s current governance challenges.
Sources close to Ortom indicate that his legal team is already reviewing the commission’s report with the intention of challenging its legitimacy and findings in a court of law.
The war of words marks a fresh escalation in the ongoing political feud between the former governor and his successor, further deepening the rift within the state’s political landscape. The Alia administration has yet to officially respond to Ortom’s latest pushback.
