Former Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom and the 2027 governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Michael Aondoakaa (SAN), have challenged Governor Hyacinth Alia to account for about N1.2 trillion received from the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) since the removal of the fuel subsidy.
The call was made during a news conference in Makurdi on Saturday by Ortom’s Media Consultant and former Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr Terver Akase.
Akase said the figure also included FAAC allocations received by the state’s 23 local government areas, adding that the people of Benue deserved to know how the funds had been utilised.
He said the demand for accountability followed comments by Alia’s Chief Press Secretary, who had criticised Ortom and Aondoakaa but, according to him, failed to address questions surrounding the state government’s finances.
According to Akase, “Governor’s Chief Press Secretary, yesterday spent valuable time attacking Chief Ortom and Chief Aondoakaa but conspicuously avoided the one issue that continues to haunt the Alia administration: accountability. Since assuming office in 2023, Governor Alia has enjoyed unprecedented financial inflows from the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC), following the removal of fuel subsidy, yet neither he nor his aides have provided Benue people with a comprehensive account of how those enormous resources have been utilized”
“They are permanently silent on how much the present administration has received since 2023. Alia’s government and that of the 23 local government areas got about N1.2 trillion naira from the FAAC from 2023 till date. What projects have been executed with those resources? Why are local government areas across the state bereft of visible government presence despite the unprecedented revenue inflows?
“These are the questions Governor Alia’s media aides cannot answer, which explains why the current government has chosen propaganda over performance,” Ortom’s media aide said.
Responding to the allegations, Governor Alia’s Chief Press Secretary, Sir Tersoo Kula, defended the administration’s record and said it should be assessed against the performance of the previous government led by Ortom.
Kula argued that increased federal revenue did not necessarily mean state governments had unlimited funds available for development.
The statement reads in parts, “It has become imperative to state clearly that increased federal revenue does not automatically translate into unlimited resources for state governments.
“During Ortom’s reign, many of his fellow governors who were willing to perform had to make the most of what they received from the Federation Account. Benue, under Ortom, was among the states that frequently cited paucity of funds as an excuse for underperformance.”
Kula said the Alia administration had been operating amid high inflation, increased construction costs, insecurity and other economic challenges.
“The Alia administration, on the other hand, has operated in an environment of unprecedented inflation, rising costs of construction, insecurity and other economic pressures. Therefore, quoting FAAC inflows without examining the corresponding cost of governance and development is a deliberately incomplete way of assessing the performance of any government.”
He also said the former governor’s media consultant had overlooked projects and interventions carried out by the current administration across several sectors.
“More importantly, the former CPS, now Consultant conveniently overlooks the interventions of the Alia administration in infrastructure, agriculture, education, healthcare, pensions, rural development and other sectors. Benue people can see and assess these interventions for themselves, even if the Consultant has chosen willful blindness over clear sight. The record of any government should be measured by what is visible and verifiable, not by the volume of criticism directed at it.”
