Former Benue Governor Samuel Ortom has hit back at Governor Hyacinth Alia, amid controversies surrounding decision to release his vehicle to the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, after youth attacked him during a visit to the state, saying refusing to assist a fellow former governor would have been petty and undignified.
He described the decision to make his vehicle available to Obi, after the attack, as a simple act of courtesy which should not be turned into a political controversy.
Ortom, through his media aide, Terver Akase, was reacting yesterday to allegations by Alia that the former governor was behind Obi’s visit to Benue recently.
He said Obi, a former Anambra State governor and presidential candidate, was in Benue on a humanitarian mission to visit internally displaced persons and families affected by the June 2025 Yelewata massacre.
Ortom said it would have been petty, inhospitable and beneath the dignity of a former governor for him to refuse to assist Obi with transportation during the visit.
“Peter Obi is a former governor, a presidential candidate and one of the most prominent political figures in the country. Imagine how it would have sounded if Chief Ortom had refused to assist him with transportation while he was in Benue on a humanitarian mission to visit internally displaced persons,” he added.
The former governor further argued that providing transportation for a high-profile visitor should ordinarily have been the responsibility of the Benue State Government.
“Indeed, extending such a courtesy should ordinarily have been the responsibility of the Benue State Government itself, given the status of the visitor,” he added.
Ortom accused the Alia administration of attempting to politicise what he described as a humane and statesmanlike gesture.
“That the Alia administration is now trying to make a controversy out of what was merely a humane, courteous and statesmanlike gesture exposes the poverty of its argument and the desperation behind its propaganda,” he said.
He added that political differences should not prevent leaders from extending basic courtesies to one another.
“In other climes, leaders are commended for extending courtesies across political divides, not vilified for doing so,” Ortom said.
He described as “intellectually dishonest and politically immature” any attempt to portray his gesture as evidence of wrongdoing.
The former governor also dismissed the allegation that he was being “double-faced” over his political allegiance, saying the accusation was laughable.
Ortom acknowledged that he openly supported Obi during the 2023 presidential election but said he had since declared his support for President Bola Tinubu.
He insisted that there was no contradiction in his position, maintaining that he was a man of his word and would stand by candidates he publicly endorsed.
The controversy followed Obi’s visit to Makurdi last Tuesday, when the former Anambra governor reportedly planned to proceed to Yelewata to commiserate with families of victims of the deadly June 2025 attack.
His convoy, however, was blocked by youths around Gyado Villa, a few kilometres from the Makurdi Airport, forcing the planned movement to be disrupted.
The development subsequently triggered a war of words between Alia and Ortom, with the incumbent governor accusing his predecessor of facilitating Obi’s visit.