The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, allegedly committed widespread robbery of the Makurdi government residence while former governor Samuel Ortom presided over it, according to Benue State Governor Hyacinth Alia.
Alia claimed that he never seen an official vehicle—a car or a truck—to travel in while they were all being taken away.
Tersoo Kula, the governor’s chief press secretary, released a statement on Thursday saying that the decision to remove all last-minute appointments made by the outgoing governor was still final.
The declaration follows requests from the PDP in the state for Alia to change his judgment, which resulted in the annulment of all last-minute appointments made by Ortom.
However, Alia encouraged the PDP to ask for forgiveness from the state’s citizens and cease pandering to the public, asserting that it has caused tremendous suffering and poverty for them.
The governor revealed that he inherited an empty treasury, a staggering N187.56 billion debt profile, and months’ worth of accrued unpaid salaries and benefits for state employees and pensioners.
“The PDP robbed Government House to the extent that the new administration, led by Governor Hyacinth Alia, did not encounter a single automobile or truck there. The highest amount of rot ever seen in Benue State has been discovered during the governor’s visits to agencies and parastatals.
“The same party that stole from the people’s economic system and left the state with an empty treasury now claims to be standing on high moral ground to make unjustified and malicious accusations in an effort to discredit the collective wisdom of the Benue people.
Part of the statement read: “The new government must start from scratch to purchase the required equipment for the system to start working again. The amount of degradation produced by the immediate prior administration stinks in the highly vandalized offices of state civil servants.