President Bola Tinubu congratulates Senator Akume, left, after swearing in as SGF
By our correspondent
The Coalition of Benue State Citizens based in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) has knocked two ousted Governors of Benue State, Gabriel Suswam and Samuel Ortom for sponsoring dubious and unwarranted media attacks on the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator George Akume.
The Coalition particularly mentioned a story trending on the social media that Senator Akume is interfering in the government of Governor Hyacinth Alia.
The headline of the story reads: “Alia warns Akume: Stop controlling me like you controlled Ortom because you won’t have Benue once again.”
An official of the Coalition who is not officially authorized to react on the matter, however informed this newspaper that they have written a strongly-worded letter to both former governors to desist from such acts of sponsoring the media from writing such falsehoods.
He pointed out that Senator Akume does not indulge in such trivialities and were just trying to unnecessarily cause distraction and cry wolf where there is none.
According to him, both Suswam and Ortom were trying to distract the general public from the wanton misgovernance during their tenure.
He said Suswam has been trying to move attention from an 11-count charge bordering on money laundering by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) amounting to N3.1billion.
According to EFCC, the amount was proceeds from the sale of some shares of Benue State in a company.
For Ortom, the EFCC has concluded plans to arrest and prosecute him for wanton abuse of office including sale of government property without due process, thus, he wants to shift attention.
He described as unfortunate and ingratitude by both former governors whom Senator Akume had groomed to become Chief Executives of Benue State and in turn trying to stab him in the back.
The official warned the duo to desist from such dastardly acts and appealed to the media not to be used for negative things.
He, however, urged Senator Akume to concentrate on his new role as Secretary to the Government of the Federation by providing good governance and not to worry about the former governors whom he described as “riff-raffs.”
