I’ll not allow Wike to divert my attention from good governance ―Ortom

BENUE State governor, Samuel Ortom, has said all the utterances of his counterpart in Rivers State, governor Nyeson Wike, was to divert his attention from his good governance in the state.

As such, governor Ortom said he would no longer respond to his utterances.

The Rivers state governor twice had hit back at Ortom over the killings in Benue State and called on federal government to impose state of emergency on Benue State.

At the same time, Wike declared that governor Ortom had not judiciously utilize the Paris club refund to Benue state, saying the state was of paucity of projects and called on Economic and Financial Crimes Commission EFCC to investigate the Ortom

Ortom who spoke at the swearing-in of five permanent secretaries at government house, Makurdi, yesterday said some people were not comfortable with the transparent manner he is conducting the affairs of the state.

According to him,  ‘they are not happy because I am honest and transparent, union leaders sit on the table with us to do the sharing each time we receive allocation;  they are against me because of all these.”

The governor said he would no longer engage with a governor who did not believe in the rule of law.

Speaking on anti-grazing bill, governor Ortom  explained that the bill was subjected to public hearing so as to get inputs from the people and stressed that it would not ban people from coming to the state because that would be against the constitution.

The new permanent secretaries who were sworn in are Mr Elvis Attah, Dr Elijah Sase, Mrs Veronica Onyeke, Mr Iduh Adams and Mr Francis Tile.