Alia attacks Ortom, Aondoakaa over Benue’s devt.
The Benue State Governor, Hyacinth Alia, has fired back at former Governor, Samuel Ortom, and his political allies, accusing them of using rhetoric, allegations and propaganda to attack his administration while challenging them to produce evidence against his development record in the state as campaigns for the 2027 poll intensified.
The governor’s also took the battle directly to former Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Michael Aondoakaa, asking his media consultant, Dr Terver Akase, to explain what Aondoakaa achieved during his tenure as AGF and Minister of Justice rather than presenting campaign promises as accomplishments.
Alia stated this in a statement released by his camp on Saturday in a response to a commentary by Ortom’s former Chief Press Secretary and current media consultant to Aondoakaa, Akase, titled, “Alia’s Attacks on Ortom, Aondoakaa Cannot Mask His Failure.”
The governor’s camp described the commentary as “long on political rhetoric” but short on evidence, arguing that its criticisms failed to reflect what it called the visible interventions of the present government across the state.
According to him, the comment from Ortom and Aondoakaa camps were attempts to portray his administration as one that is distracted, afraid or unable to defend his record would not change what it described as the realities of development under the current administration.
He accused the opposition camp of turning political discussions into avenues for “allegations, fabrications and propaganda,” insisting that Benue people were capable of assessing the government’s performance from projects and interventions on the ground.
On the state’s increased federal allocations, the governor rejected arguments that higher Federation Account revenues automatically translated into unlimited resources for state governments.
He argued that the Alia government had operated amid high inflation, increased construction costs, insecurity and other economic pressures, making comparisons based solely on FAAC inflows inadequate for assessing government performance.
Alia also took a swipe at the Ortom government, saying Benue under the former governor was among states that frequently cited paucity of funds as a reason for poor performance.
The governor maintained that the present administration had channelled resources into infrastructure, agriculture, education, healthcare, pension payments and rural development, among other sectors.
“The record of any government should be measured by what is visible and verifiable, not by the volume of criticism directed at it,” he said.
Aside from that, the governor rejected attempts to use the recent insecurity and killings in Ayilamo as a political weapon, saying every life lost to violence remained a tragedy irrespective of political affiliation.
He noted that efforts have consistently been made to treat insecurity as one of the state’s major challenges and had engaged the Federal Government and security agencies on efforts to protect communities and facilitate the return of displaced persons to their ancestral homes.
The governor further questioned Ortom’s political alignment, particularly his reported support for both President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi.
He challenged the former governor to explain how providing campaign logistics, including transportation for Obi, could be described as statesmanship rather than political support.
While criticizing Aondoakaa, he challenged Akase to point to the former Attorney-General’s achievements while he served as AGF and Minister of Justice.
The governor argued that campaign promises being made by Aondoakaa should not be presented to Benue people as though they amounted to an established record of achievement.