Benue: How Akume offered 22 lawmakers N88m to impeach me – Ortom reveals

Governor of Benue State, Dr. Samuel Ortom has revealed how Senator George Akume allegedly offered N88 million (N4 million each) to 22 lawmakers in the state House of Assembly to fast-track his impeachment over allegation of funds misappropriation and enactment of the grazing law.

Ortom made the accusation yesterday while speaking with journalists at the Government House shortly after his state broadcast, where he gave an update on the crisis rocking the state’s House of Assembly and other challenges of his administration.

The governor, who noted that the lawmakers had rejected the largesse and reported the development to him, said after that the plan failed, the next step now by some forces in the state is to ensure the unleashing of massive Fulani militia to embark on more devastating attacks and killings in the state.

“The senator (Akume) held a meeting with the 22 lawmakers in the state assembly and offered each of them N4 million.

“They were under instruction to move a motion of impeachment against me in order to destabilise the state for not paying salaries and enacting the grazing law, but the lawmakers rejected the offer and the report filtered back to me.

“Having failed to achieve their anti-Benue objectives so far, the next phase is the unleashing of massive Fulani militia to embark on more devastating attacks and killings in the state. The most unfortunate aspect is that some sons of the state, including a serving senator (Akume) have been recruited and mobilized to lead this phase,” he said.

The governor said the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is currently probing the security votes of the state over allegations of impropriety, but noted that if the commission really wanted to do a thorough job, they should start the probe from 1999 when Akume was governor.

“If the EFCC wanted a genuine investigation of security vote spending, they should have started from the Presidency right across the 36 states. If their focus was on Benue State, they should have started from 1999.

“But this is not the case. With the enormous security challenges in the state since my assumption of office, it is surprising that anyone would expect me to do nothing, but keep the security vote in the safe. The security vote spending being investigated spans from 2015 to 2018, a period of grave security challenges in the state,” he said.