Benue State chapter of the People’s Democratic Party has stated that the State Governor, Samuel Ortom has tremendous respect for President Muhammad Buhari.
Addressing newsmen at the state party secretariat, on Wednesday, the State chairman of PDP, Sir John Ngbede described it as a wrong submission by the APC members in the state.
Ngbede was reacting to the statement that was credited to the Minister of Special Duties and Intergovernmental Affairs, Senator George Akume who called for the declaration of the state of emergency in Benue since governor Ortom was overwhelmed by insecurity.
Akume also accused the governor of disrespecting the president.
But Ngbede said that what the governor did was not disrespecting but to ensure that the president lives up to expectations by protecting the lives and property of Nigerians.
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According to the party chairman, “The govermor, Samuel Ortom has tremendous respect but this respect cannot exempt the president from discharging his constitutional responsibilities nor the governor from respectfully calling on him to live up to the duties of his office.
“When sick and hospitalized in 2017, the Benue State Government in conjunction with the Christian Association of Nigeria, (CAN), organised a three-Day Prayer and Fasting session from 12th-14th May 2017 for the recovery of President Buhari.
“Governor Ortom was also part of a six-man delegation of governors that visited the president on his hospital bed in London. On his return, the governor called on all Nigerians to pray for the president, stating that, “when the president is sick, the whole country is sick.”
On corruption, the PDP in the state described it as ‘unsubstantiated” saying that the allegation that Governor Ortom allocates N800 million monthly to himself as security votes was a product of a continuous inebriated mind and not true.
“We challenge Senator Akume to prove this allegation. Even with the dire financial condition of the state, the state government funds the activities of all of the security outfits in the state including Operation Whirl Stroke, the Civil Defence, the Police and the State Security Services.
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