BENUE State Governor, Samuel Ortom on Tuesday said that the governorship candidate of All Progressives Congress, APC in the state, Emmanuel Jime lacks the moral ground to criticize him on issues relating to governance and private investments.
Ortom who was reacting to Jime’s claim that governor Samuel Ortom was using his office to boost his personal business.
The governor who said that he raised money from Central Bank to fund his private business challenged Jime to explain the source of funds he used in establishing an expansive farm in Gwagwalada area of Abuja which is estimated to cost over five hundred million naira.
Ortom who spoke through his Chief Press Secretary, Terver Akase alleged that Jime was yet to clear himself of his indictment by the Senate Committee on Trade and Investment which uncovered N205 million fraud in Export Processing Zones Authority, NEPZA budget of 2018.
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“A man who stands indicted by a committee of the highest legislative chamber in the country over fraud lacks the moral ground and integrity to accuse another man”.
“It is over a year since the Senate Committee on Trade and Investment uncovered padding and other fraudulent issues in the NEPZA budget of 2018 under Jime but we have not read anywhere that he extricated himself from the accusations. If this country were not under a government that protects its appointees who loot public funds, Jime would have been answering questions from EFCC by now”, governor Ortom alleged.
“Records exist to show that Governor Ortom accessed a Central Bank facility with which he funded Oracle Business Limited long before he became Governor, stressing that Jime ought to have done his homework properly before making the allegation,” Ortom said.
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