Barely few hours to the commencement of the Presidential and National Assembly elections, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for Makurdi/ Guma House of Representatives Terhide Utaan has accused Governor Samuel Ortom of sponsoring militia to unleashed mayhem on some communities in Guma to disrupt the forthcoming elections.
He particularly hinted that the invasion of Iyeh community in Uvir council ward of Guma local government on Wednesday night was allegedly carried out by the governor’s armed militia (Livestock guards).
But in a swift reaction, Governor Samuel Ortom, dismissed the allegations, saying that the APC are afraid of being defeated during the forthcoming general elections and are already making excuses for their failure.
Utaan categorically stated that the governor had allegedly imported military and police uniforms and armed members of the livestock guards with AK47 to impersonate security agents during the elections.
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The chief press secretary to the governor, Terver Akase explained that Governor Ortom has left no one in doubt of his ability to end frequent attacks on innocent citizens of the state including women and children through the enactment of the Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranching Establishment Law.
“The allegations by the APC House Of Representatives candidate for Makurdi/Guma federal constituency, Engr Terhide Utaan, is laughable and baseless because how can a governor who had enacted a law to protect his people from invaders and also provide amnesty would suddenly turned around to arm militia,” he said.
The governor further emphasized that members of the livestock guards are peaceful young men and women who have been trained by law to cooperate with conventional security personnel to ensure security of life and property of citizenry in the state.
“The APC candidate does not have any moral justification to accused me of such allegations because these are same set of people who applauded me for the step taken, during the enactment of the law, when i was in APC. This is just a cheap blackmail by the ruling party to run me down but they will not succeed,” the governor’s aide said.
The PDP state publicity secretary, Bemgba Iortyom who attributed the problems of the state to the inability of the APC-led federal government to protect lives and property of the citizens, condemned the allegation, describing it as cruel.
