Benue State governor, Mr. Samuel Ortom, has filed a law suit against the Minister of Special Duties and Intergovernmental Affairs, Senator George Akume, alleging defamation.
Governor Ortom said Senator Akume, a former governor of the State, had during a press conference he (Akume) addressed on August 30, 2021, made scathing allegations against him.
In seeking redress in the law court, Ortom said: “I did not want to join issues with the minister, so I choose the honourable way.”
According to him, “the minister (Akume)lost his Senatorial ambition in 2019 because of his abysmal performance and now he has gone all out to vent his anger on me by destabilising my government, but I am not deterred because this is not the first time. In 2018, he also instigated members of the State Assembly to impeach me and they resisted by impeaching the then speaker. So, we will meet at the court.
“I don’t want to join issues with the Minister but I have to put the records straight for all Nigerians and beyond to know, because all the allegations by the Minister in the said press conference were cheap lies and blackmail, it is just to give a dog a bad name in order to hang it, so let him explain all the allegations at the court.”