The All Progressives Congress (APC) leadership in Benue State, has concluded plans to commence the persecution of the outgoing Governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom by using the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), to harass and intimidate the fearless Governor, this newspaper authoritatively gathered.
Reliable sources within the APC fold revealed that the leader of the party in the state, Senator George Akume is on the wheel of plot against Ortom and has vowed to deal ruthlessly with him.
“The plan is to use EFCC to arrest Governor Ortom as soon as he loses immunity today (29th May, 2023) and take him to Abuja where he will be later transferred to Lagos and tortured severely”, the source told our Correspondent.
The second part of the plan, according to same source who pleaded anonymity, is “to commence a media trial of Ortom by using columnists and reports to convict him on the pages of newspapers and in the electronic media without any court verdict”.
Our Correspondent also confirmed that, a team of EFCC officials was covertly deployed from Abuja to Benue State, yesterday, the 28th of May, without the knowledge of the commission’s Makurdi office who they feared might leak the plot to Governor Ortom.
The team was reportedly given the express mandate to invade Ortom’s house and ransack the residence to pick him up.
The source also confirmed that, the EFCC has already framed phony charges that they will level against Governor Ortom if he is arrested. Akume is said to have used several surrogates to write petitions against Ortom to EFCC accusing him of misappropriation of public funds.
The Minister is believed to still be feeling the pain of humiliation that Governor Ortom gave him in 2019 when he lost his Senate bid and has vowed never to forgive the Governor.
Benue State Chairman of APC, Comrade Austin Agada could not be reached as his cell phone rang severally without response.
Meanwhile, the Special Adviser to Governor Ortom on Media and Publicity, Mr. Terver Akase, told our Correspondent that his Principal would not be afraid of any invitation from the anti graft agency.
Akase said, “If the report is true, then I will say that EFCC does not need to use covert operations to harass Governor Ortom, because the Governor has already said openly that he is ready to honour any invitation from the commission. He has nothing to hide”.
This is not the first time that EFCC is harassing Governor Samuel Ortom. Five years ago, the commission repeatedly probed the Governor and invited his key appointees for interrogation but came out with nothing meaningful or tangible to tell Nigerians.