Former Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, has alleged that his successor, Governor Hyacinth Alia, seized 23 vehicles that had been allocated to him by the state government after he left office.
Ortom, who disclosed this on Tuesday during an appearance on Arise Television’s Morning Show, said he challenged the seizure in court and secured a judgment ordering the state government to return the vehicles and pay him N5 million in damages.
According to him, the vehicles were legitimately allocated to him by the state government before he left office.
“After I left office, vehicles that were given to me legitimately by the government, this government (Alia administration) went and seized them in a manner that was not befitting.
“No communication was made to me. I went to court, and we defeated the government. And they were asked to pay me N5 million in addition to returning the 23 vehicles they took away from me, which were legitimately given to me by the government,” he said.
Ortom alleged that the seizure was part of what he described as the Alia administration’s “witch-hunt” of political opponents.
The former governor also accused the Alia administration of sidelining political stakeholders from the affairs of the state, alleging that no stakeholders’ meeting involving political parties had been held since the governor assumed office.
Ortom further alleged that Alia recently directed traditional rulers not to receive him when he visited his kinsmen to inform them about his wife’s senatorial ambition.
He also claimed that local government chairmen in the state were yet to gain control of their funds despite the Supreme Court’s judgment affirming financial autonomy for local governments.
Alia, a member of the All Progressives Congress, APC, succeeded Ortom as governor on May 29, 2023, after defeating Titus Uba, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, candidate who was backed by the former governor.
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