Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, has said the national chairman of All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomole, was in a hurry to justify his “moniker as an undertaker who has come to evacuate what is left of the APC into oblivion.”
The governor, who spoke through his chief press secretary, Tever Akase, advised Oshiomole to behave like a statesman and realise he was no longer a union leader but a party chairman.
Ortom, who spoke in response to Oshiomhole’s comment against him, described the national chairman as a double-faced person who, he recalled, poured encomiums on the governor a few days ago only to make an about-turn and launch an attack on his person and his administration.
“On July 10, 2018, the national chairman of the APC, Comrade Oshiomhole poured encomiums on Benue State governor, Samuel Ortom, when addressing journalists at the party’s secretariat in Abuja, shortly after his meeting with the governor whom he described as one of the star performers of the APC.
“He also described Governor Ortom as a honourable man and went further to state that the party would do everything to keep the governor within its fold like a highly valued diamond and not let him defect to another party,” the statement stated.
It added that Oshiomhole was right when he commended Ortom over his performance in the last three years, but expressed shock at the U-turn when the governor dumped the APC.
Ortom noted that the APC national chairman’s sudden aggression towards him had revealed among other things, the true oppressive intentions of the ruling party APC against Nigerians.
“Oshiomhole appears to be flying a kite of an agenda to intimidate and suppress Nigerians who desire freedom from a party which has clearly failed to secure lives and property, thereby ushering in an orgy of violence never before witnessed in the history of the country.
“Oshiomhole’s diatribe against Governor Ortom has also revealed the plot hatched by APC leaders within and outside Benue to throw the state into political crisis ahead of the 2019 elections.
“He ought to be telling Nigerians why they should vote for APC next year, instead of embarking on a voyage of attacks on perceived opponents. His unprovoked attack on Governor Ortom and other members of the opposition has not translated to a single vote for the APC.
“Oshiomhole appears to be in a hurry to justify his moniker as an ‘undertaker’ who has come to evacuate what is left of the once popular APC into oblivion as recently observed by the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party,” the statement said.
“Another thing that should occupy Comrade Oshiomhole’s mind is the suit filed against him by Bishop Osadolor Anthony Ochie, an Edo-based cleric and rights activist, on account of corruption while he served as governor of Edo State. Oshiomhole does not possess the moral credentials to accuse other leaders of corruption.”
On the allegation that the governor’s aides were among those killing people in the state, the governor said that there was the likelihood that Oshiomhole was privy to the ongoing investigation of the suspects arrested in connection with the murder of two Catholic priests and 17 worshipers at Mbalom, Gwer East Local Government Area of the state.
“With his jumping into conclusion that the suspects were sponsored by the governor, our suspicion is that either the investigation into the matter has been compromised or the APC national chairman is influencing it.
“Benue people know who their killers are and the attackers are believed to be sponsored by Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore and other Miyetti Allah groups,” he said.
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