Mr Terlumun Tombowua, the Secretary of the Benue State Assets Recovery Committee, has announced that the committee successfully retrieved 37 government vehicles from former Governor Samuel Ortom.
The committee stated that its investigation is still ongoing, aiming to bring its assignment to a satisfactory conclusion.
However, Ortom has dismissed the investigation as part of Governor Hyacinth Alia’s malicious campaign to target and harass him.
In a statement issued by his media aide, Terver Akase, the former governor clarified that the building where the vehicles were found is an automobile workshop owned by a transportation company. According to Ortom, the vehicle owners had taken their vehicles there for repairs.
Similarly, the Benue State Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr Bemgba Iortyom, claimed in another statement that the building where the vehicles were recovered is an automobile workshop belonging to a company owned by the former governor.
On Tuesday, accompanied by security personnel, the assets recovery committee raided the former governor’s automobile workshop and transported 37 vehicles of various makes to the Government House in Makurdi.
On Thursday, while the committee’s secretary confirmed the retrieval of 33 vehicles from the former governor’s workshop, the chairman, Hinga Biem, informed The Nation over the phone that four additional vehicles had been impounded, bringing the total to 37.
Tombowua stated that the vehicles consisted of Hilux vans, SUVs, and buses. He further mentioned that the investigation is ongoing, to recover more assets, including vehicles and unlawfully acquired properties.
A committee member, speaking on condition of anonymity, revealed that if necessary, the search would be extended to Abuja, Kaduna, and Lagos.
It was learned that the first 33 cars were recovered from a workshop located on the Makurdi-Otukpo road, opposite Union Bank at Wurukum in the state capital.
Sir Kulas Tersoo, the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, asserted that no amount of propaganda would hinder Governor Alia from fulfilling his constitutional duty.
Addressing the allegations of witch-hunting raised by the former governor, Tersoo emphasized that Alia’s actions were based on the committee’s mandate to recover properties illegally acquired by officials of the previous administration.
The governor’s aide questioned why Ortom, who is not known to be a car dealer, possessed 37 luxury vehicles purchased with public funds.
Tersoo stated that Alia remains focused on revitalizing the state, which he claimed was plundered by the previous administration, and that no amount of blackmail or propaganda would deter him.
