The President of the umbrella body of the Tiv Youth Worldwide Hon Mike Msuaan has described the response of the Special Adviser to Governor Samuel Ortom and the Benue state PDP publicity secretary on the press release by the youth group as empty, banal, frivolous and lacking in substance.
Recall that the Tiv Youth Council Worldwide had in the press release in Abuja accused Governor Ortom of going all out to pull down other prominent Tiv sons.
The group listed the probe and indictment of Senator Gabriel Suswam by a Judicial panel of enquiry set up by Governor Ortom and the public boast by the governor that he had retired Sen. George Akume.
The group also mentioned the graveyard silence of Governor Ortom in the wake of the demand by the former presidential aspirant Governor Nyesom Wike even with the demand by supporters for the removal the National Chairman, Dr. Iyorchia Ayu, as the only condition for Peace talks with Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.
According to Hon. Msuaan, “Both Governor Ortom’s adviser on Media Hon. Terver Akase and Bemgba Iortyom, the Benue state PDP publicity secretary in responding to the umbrella body of the Tiv Youth Worldwide, simply appended their signatures to yet another press release.
“Akase and Bemgba did not deny the claim of the Tiv Youth Council Worldwide that, Ortom fought Sen. Suswam. He did not negate the claim that Ortom set up a Judicial panel of enquiry which indicted Suswam. Ortom issued a white paper to that effect. He seized Suswams houses and instituted plenty court cases against Suswam to cripple him and paint him as a corrupt leader who only siphoned the resources of the state.”
Speaking further, Msuaan maintained that Sen. George Akume was another prominent Tiv son who suffered persecution from Ortom.
“Similarly Akase and Bemgba did not also deny that Ortom went all out to make sure his major benefactor Sen. George Akume lost his reelection in 2019. Did Ortom not publicly boast that he had retired Sen. Akume from politics ?” he queried.
On the issue of the demand by the Wike camp that Dr. Ayu must step aside as PDP National Chairman before any discussion with the party’s reconciliation committee, Hon. Msuaan stated that “the governor’s media aide and the PDP scribe simply made a political statement that Ortom has a good relationship with Ayu. They did not attend to the curiosity of the Tiv Youth that, he has been silent and has not initiated any move to reconcile Wike and Ayu.
“Ortom is a confidant of Wike and a staunch supporter of his ill-fated presidential ambition. Ortom has not minced words in asking the Ayu-led National executive to go and beg Wike. Why is he mute on calls to sack Ayu?
“In the light of the above, the Tiv Youth Council Worldwide has every reason to believe that Ortom is clandestinely working for the fall of yet another Tiv man.
“As the umbrella body of the Tiv Youths Worldwide, we wish to raise alarm and call on the general public and prominent Tiv sons to speak out and call on the governor to desist from such pull him down syndrome.”