State Debt: Alia naming outrageous figures to rubbish me – Ortom

Samuel Ortom, who served as governor of Benue State until his replacement, Hyacinth Alia, took office, has stated that his successor is trying to humiliate him by putting ridiculous data into the public arena.

Ortom, speaking through his Media Aide, Terver Akase, refuted the claim made by Fidelis Mnyim, the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice of Benue State, that his administration left the current government with a debt profile of more than N14 billion as a consent judgement. Mnyim made this claim.

“What the Justice Commissioner said was one in a series of media outings by the Alia administration aimed at dragging the name of the former governor and his administration into disrepute,” Akase said. “What the Justice Commissioner said was one in a series of media outings by the Alia administration.”

In addition, Akase stated that the current administration is fast to disseminate unfounded figures in the media in order to accuse the administration that came before it without providing evidence to support their accusations.

He stated that the main purpose is to paint Ortom and his government in a negative light, gain political profit out of every issue, and avoid public scrutiny at all costs.

According to Akase, “It is important to note that the majority of the issues raised by the Commissioner for Justice are from pensions and gratuity cases.”

It is public knowledge that the Ortom administration inherited pension and gratuity debts that stretched back over numerous previous administrations, and the court proceedings brought by pensioners were still unresolved when Chief Ortom took office in 2015. ”

“Governor Ortom, in his characteristically altruistic spirit, determined that the elderly citizens had served the state honourably so that his government would not enter defence against them in court. Instead, he opted for an amicable conclusion of the cases. This decision was made in an effort to alleviate the problem.

“The State Government had reached an arrangement with the retirees and was paying their pension arrears and gratuities when money became available in accordance with the terms of the agreement. This was despite the fact that the country was experiencing a serious economic crisis at the time, with federal allocations to states being at their lowest level since 1999 and Nigeria having twice previously entered a period of recession.

“If the current government is complaining about a large number of garnishee orders, there is a possibility that it has defaulted on the payment arrangement that the Ortom administration made with the retirees, and the retirees have returned to the courts,” said the author. “If this is the case, then the retirees have the right to return to the courts.”

According to Akase, the incumbent Commissioner for Justice, Barrister Fidelis Mnyim, previously worked as legal counsel for a number of individuals who filed lawsuits against the Benue State Government.

“He ought to have notified the media if the case he handled was among the garnishee orders resulting in the N14 billion that he claimed. ” “He ought to have told the media if the case he handled was among the garnishee orders.

“Chief Ortom urges Governor Hyacinth Alia to take use of the enormous revenues that have been available to his administration from the federation’s account as a result of the withdrawal of the gasoline subsidy so that they may address the development difficulties that they face.

When a new government comes into power, it takes on both the assets and the liabilities of the previous one. As with his predecessors, Governor Ortom inherited a similar set of financial responsibilities,” Akase continued.