Aviashima Toom, Makurdi
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in Benue State. has tongue-lashed the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state over comments credited to it on the proposed construction of a new airport by Governor Samuel Ortom.
Governor Ortom had, while presenting the 2020 budget estimate to the state’s House of Assembly, informed of his government’s plan to build a new airport at the cost of N12 billion.
This sparked condemnation from the opposition APC.
But the PDP, in a statement issued over the weekend, in Makurdi, and signed by its Publicly Secretary, Bemgba Iortyom, and made available to The Nigerian Xpress described APC’s take on the issue a reflection of frustration and crass hypocrisy.
While acknowledging the fact that the APC was entitled to her views as a party in opposition, the PDP said such views must be measured against the majority opinion of the Benue who are and would always be the ultimate targeted beneficiaries of any policy and action of the administration.
“Benue PDP gladly accepts that the incumbent Ortom administration is a PDP administration, as described by APC, and that as the sponsoring platform the party must take the credit or discredit accruing from the administration’s actions.
‘But by the same token of responsibility, PDP reminds APC that the same Cargo Airport project which they today lampoon the Ortom administration over was conceived, and initiated under their watch as the sponsoring political platform of the administration then.
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“If they had guided the administration right the project would not have ended up a “white elephant project” like they now seek to derogatorily label it.
“It is, therefore, either a reflection of hypocrisy or lack of depth of thought, or a combination of both, for the opposition party to now seek to occupy the chair of the critic over that same project.”
According to the PDP, it remained a shallow of the opposition party not to factor it that the declaration of the proposed airport project made by His Excellency, Gov. Ortom, is still a part of the proposals contained in the budgetary estimates which he submitted before the state’s legislature for consideration and final approval.
It added that in line with the tenets of democracy, rather than take to the media waves making baseless noise, APC ought to have mobilise her members in the state legislature where the airport project is up for consideration to raise their objections.
It stated further that the validity or otherwise of the APC’s views or those of any other person or group concerning the proposed project can only be determined by the state legislature which it noted was a representative assembly with the powers to aggregates approval or disapproval to any proposed policy or action of government.
Continuing, the statement stressed that “in the same statement, Benue APC claimed that His Excellency, Gov. Ortom, is the “Governor with the highest number of non fulfilled promises” and cited the non completion of the Origbo-Imamde-Akpu-Gbajimba Road in evidence.
“Yet, even to the most lay of observation, non completion of the said road project and other ongoing projects cannot rationally be viewed to connote non performance on the part of the Ortom administration since there are other road projects which have been completed while others are at various stages of progress.
“The Ahmadu Bello Way in Gboko, Igbor-Ikpa-Wannune Road, the Mobile Barracks Road in Makurdi, the Och’Idoma Road in Otukpo among several
other roads projects at various stages of completion and ongoing works are proof of the focus of the Ortom administration on the provision of critical infrastructure to the people of Benue State.
“Benue APC also claimed that the governor has taken governance to ridiculous levels by attending to courtesy calls and other social events, and here the paucity of thought is even more glaring as this cannot possibly be the case.
“Since assumption of office to a second tenure, His Excellency, Governor Samuel Ortom has been performing critical actions of government at a regular pace, and these have included appointment and inauguration of governmental structures in the various arms and tiers of administration in the state.”
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Still on the governor’s performance, the statement informed further that” the administration within the same period has undertaken the
execution of critical infrastructural works which are ongoing as well as rural electrification projects across the state.
“The Ortom administration has as well been active in the provision of social amenities, with counterpart payments made to attract partnership funding in education where the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) recently awarded the latest tranche of contract’s running into billions of naira for the construction of classrooms and office accommodation, as well as provision of furniture and learning aids in primary schools across the state”.
