How quick, but we haven’t forgotten. Doing appraisal and posing as voices of the people cannot be done by the same vicious team and party that midwifed and nurtured the monstrous status and the current challenges that are bedeviling the state today.
The pains and penury that Ortom’s administrators imposed on the Benue citizenry for eight years cannot be forgotten in a hurry.
Perhaps, the apostles of the immediate past government in Benue State is feigning an amnesia over the 28 billion Naira bailout funds that Ortom government collected to offset the backlog of salary arrears inherited from Suswam’s administration in the state. The Benue people have not forgotten how the bailout funds were brazenly misappropriated with impunity and how the state workers became perpetually placed on the path of misery and squalid conditions of bare survival for eight years in spite of huge monies that came into the State coffers through federal allocations, huge borrowings, internally generated revenues and other interventions.
The reckless abandon with which the Benue workers were treated by the Ortom government is reminiscent of the inglorious days of slavery in human history.
The Benue workers were compelled to become farmers just make ends meet for eight uninterrupted locust years of Ortom’s administration. It is rather cynical that those who conspired to perpetuate the most absurd level of economic servitude on the Benue workers are now standing on an abstract high moral grounds to raise voices of criticism against a government that is demonstrating a satisfactory capacity to tackle the multifarious challenges imposed on the state through a well articulated political redemption strategy.
Similarly, looking at the courage and boldness the PDP still has to perpetually lie to the people who are still bearing the brunt of the hardship brought upon them by the party, it has further confirmed the obvious that it was deliberate; especially looking at the way the party is still rating itself high.
Truth be told, it is nauseating for the PDP to even think of appraising the present administration within this short time. This is the same party that initiated and viciously supervised the removal of government assets, including air conditioners and other electronic ancillaries in government offices and lodges.
Moreover, it is on record that Governor Alia was never accorded the due smooth tradition that previous incoming Governors including Samuel Ortom enjoyed. But since his mind is to restore the lost glories of the state, the Reverend Gentlemen has kept his head above troubled waters without the basic paraphernalia of his office and is driving around in old cars, just to make the system work.
But if the PDP can audaciously rate itself high, having caused the Benue state this kind of denigration and monumental setback, then it is pitiable and ludicrous.
However, the PDP must know that Governor Alia is not and has no intention to build his administration on propaganda and falsehood as was the case during the last administration with Samuel Ortom behind the wheels.
The discoveries made by Governor Alia during his tour of the state’s Secretariat as well as Ministries, Department, and Agencies within and outside the state, shortly after his inauguration, distinctly highlighted the legacies of ruin left behind by the PDP.
It is unfortunate that the party knows no shame and is now requesting for a miraculous quick fix. The task of resetting the state is covenant that Governor Alia has chosen to keep. In this context, the Reverend Gentleman has a destiny with history and he is not oblivious of this basic moral commitment.
Of course, Benue has never been this devastatingly raped and wrecked. Yet, the Governor is not complaining about the magnitude of work to be done. But it is a known fact that re-building or reconstructing a collapsed system takes more time.
Changing a collapsed system left behind by the PDP requires a series of well-planned and properly guided steps, to return it to the same pedestal with other states in Nigeria. The steps have already been initiated just within the last 30 days.
For instance, in the last 30 days and contrary to the assessment by the Benue PDP, it may interest the Benue people to know that, aside from the approval and resumption of the payment of the backlog of salaries the party left behind, renovation work is currently ongoing at the Benue State House of Assembly Complex. This is a building that was almost completely dilapidated before the coming on board of this administration. It had no semblance of a hallowed chamber.
For 8 years under an Ortom administration, the roof of the Assembly complex suffered severe leakages in the face of decayed furniture and moribund office equipment. Yet, no attention to given to this complex to constantly provided the enablement for incessant borrowings for Ortom’s government. That was indeed a callous level of neglect and insensitivity.
On security too, the Governor and his deputy have, at different intervals, visited hot spots and equally interfaced with the host communities to bring innovative ways of building lasting peace between the warring parties in the state. The Governor is also in constant touch with security agencies in his deliberate efforts to returning Benue State on the path of sustainable peace for development to thrive.
He has equally had critical meetings with investors within and outside the state, to bring about development into the state. Furthermore, ill-timed appointments and last-minute recruitments that were carried out by the previous PDP administration at its twilight have been revoked, as the government continues to sanitize the system.
Yet, since he is not the type that goes about crying in the media and blowing his trumpet, the PDP has chosen to turn a blind eye to his strides in governance.
The PDP must be reminded consistently that an administration is not measured in one month, even if the PDP has decided to continue to lie to the people as the party did while in government. But the party is obviously not ready to learn, even after being told by the Benue people that lying to the people you hold their trust, does not pay.
If ortom and the PDP had done well in office as they are now trying to deceive the Benue people, Ortom would have been elected a senator and other PDP candidates would have enjoyed electoral victory in the state. The rejection of the PDP at the polls points to the party’s grandiose failure in public administration in the state. But Ortom and the PDP were rejected.
It is quite a shame that his godfather, former Governor Wike, has his preferred candidate as his successor. Why? He did well for his people as their Governor, and his party won big courtesy of his legacies in office.
The PDP lacks the moral right to rate Governor Alia’s performance in office. Building a lasting legacy takes time. And as the Czech writer, Ivan Klima says in the book, Love and Garbage, “to destroy is easier than to create.” Governor Alia is rebuilding and the Benue people need not worry about the future of the state. It is in safer hands.
And unlike Ortom and the PDP, he will not betray the mandate given to him.
Sir Tersoo Kula
Chief Press Secretary to the Governor of Benue State.
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