23/06/2026
ORTOM SHOULD ANSWER TO HIS RECORD, NOT SEEK DISTRACTION THROUGH DEBATE
By Manasseh Akawe
Former Benue State Governor, Chief Samuel Ortom, appears once again determined to drag the state into the politics of endless drama instead of sober reflection. His latest challenge to Governor Hyacinth Iormem Alia for a public debate over alleged financial misappropriation is not only unnecessary; it is a calculated attempt to divert public attention from the painful legacy he left behind.
Governance is not a television contest. It is not won on microphones, emotions, or rehearsed speeches. If Chief Ortom believes public debates are the proper avenue for accountability, one must ask: where was this enthusiasm for public accountability when Benue groaned under eight years of mounting debts, unpaid salaries, pension arrears, abandoned infrastructure, and worsening insecurity?
Governor Alia inherited a state whose institutions were weak, finances severely strained, and public confidence badly damaged. Since assuming office in May 2023, his administration has focused on rebuilding those broken systems rather than engaging in media theatrics. His government has prioritized regular salary payments, pension reforms, road infrastructure, security logistics, educational expansion, healthcare investments, and digital transformation initiatives. Public records show over 9,700 teachers have been recruited, free basic education has been introduced, and significant investments have been made in road networks and public infrastructure.
Under Governor Alia, Benue has witnessed renewed urban development, with major township roads, underpasses, and rural access roads underway. Beyond infrastructure, the administration has strengthened security operations through logistics support, including patrol vehicles and motorcycles for security agencies, while pushing for stronger institutional responses to insecurity.
It is therefore curious that Chief Ortom, whose administration presided over years of fiscal instability, now wants to posture as the guardian of accountability. The issue is not whether audit reports were published; the issue is whether the people of Benue genuinely felt the impact of governance under his watch. The answer is visible across the state.
Benue people do not need a debate to remember history. They remember the backlog of unpaid entitlements. They remember the economic hardship. They remember the roads that remained untouched. They remember the deepening IDP crisis and the recurring insecurity that defined much of that era.
If Chief Ortom insists his records are clean, then the appropriate place remains where he himself suggested; the courts and the anti-corruption agencies; not a staged political spectacle designed to harvest sympathy and headlines.
A governor who is busy constructing roads, reforming education, modernizing the economy, attracting digital investments, and restoring administrative discipline cannot be distracted by political nostalgia from a past administration still struggling to defend its legacy. Governor Alia has repeatedly maintained that his focus is governance, not vendetta. That is the mark of leadership.
Chief Ortom should resist the temptation of rewriting history. Leadership is measured not by loud defenses after office, but by the quality of impact left behind. On that score, the contrast between the past and the present is becoming clearer by the day.
Benue deserves progress, not recycled controversies.