The war of attrition between Governor Sam uel Ortom of Benue State and his estranged political godfather, Senator George Akume, yesterday assumed a disturbing dimension as the governor accused the senator of using soldiers and the Returning Officers of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to intercept and alter, in his favour, results of the Presidential and National Assembly elections in Gboko Local Government Area of the state.
Ortom, who spoke with journalists after he met with the state Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Dr. Nentawe Yilwatda, at the INEC office in Makurdi, said that results of the election as made available to him indicated that the senator lost election woefully in six out of seven local government areas of his senatorial district and resorted to the latest action to retain his seat at all cost.
Ortom, who was accompanied on the visit by two former Senate Presidents, Dr. Iyorchia Ayu, and David Mark, as well as the House of Representatives member for Buruku Federal Constituency and PDP senatorial candidate in the just-concluded polls, Rt. Hon. Emmanuel Orker Jev, among top party supporters, said that the action of the APC leader made them apprehensive.
His words: “We are apprehensive because just some few minutes ago, we learnt that the soldiers went to Gboko INEC Collation Centre and packed all the materials with the Returning Officer and electoral materials and were heading to Makurdi without our agents and we were confused and we said we can’t just allow it.
“So we came to see the INEC REC to find out why it is so and he assured us that all will be well, and that they too were just apprehensive and that they were concerned about the security of the materials and INEC officials.
“We also want our agents allowed in to oversee whatever is happening and he did assure us that he will do that. So, with that assurance, we are comfortable and we look forward to seeing that the right thing is done. The REC told us that no mutilation or falsification of any results will be accepted and, with that, we are comfortable.
“Otherwise, the senator representing zone B (Akume) had boasted that he will ensure that the result is overturned against us after losing in six local government areas of Benue State out of seven local governments in his zone. We all have the results sheets in the polling units and it was just at the local government level that the army intercepted.”
Ortom described as baseless calls by Akume that election in his local government be cancelled because of irregularities, saying, “there is no basis” for cancellation. “The card reader is there and let’s see whether we have flouted any process whatsoever. He should be calling for cancellation of the election in his own ward where there were issues in certain wards in his local government that they chased away our agents,” Ortom said.
But Akume, who also stormed the INEC office on hearing that the governor had been there to lodge a complaint, told newsmen that the allegation against him was untrue.
He described the governor as a violent man who is fond of making sweeping generalisation and spreading falsehood. Akume said that he was at the INEC office with APC chieftains for consultation, but described as untrue allegations that he, alongside security operatives, intercepted election materials.
His words: “Occasionally, we come to consult as senior stakeholders of the APC. It is very untrue and unfair that I diverted materials as said by Ortom. The man (Ortom) is very fond of getting involved in sweeping generalisation and falsehood. I have never seen a man in such a position of responsibility behave this way. He cannot substantiate what he told you. “Nobody has seen me with any military personnel, nobody has seen me with policemen going up and down. I voted in my local polling unit and I retired to my house and later came back to my house in Makurdi. “But anybody who knows this governor will always conclude that he is a man of violence. He has created violence in Benue State, he secretes violence like bees and he is a liar.
“I regret and apologise to the people of Benue for making that man governor.
“I do know, as of fact, that this is not my first time of contesting for election, I have always done it and you recall in 2011 when we were in opposition.
“In 2015, we won handsomely in spite of the fact that we were in the opposition. So my seat is not threatened and I want to assure you that no matter the amount of padding by the non-performing governor, I will get there,” Akume said.