Editor’s note: The special adviser, media and ICT to the Benue state governor, Tahav Agerzua, fires back at the former minister of interior, Comrade Abba Moro, who has been a constant critic of the Benue state government’s policies and actions.
Read below:
Comrade Abba Moro’s latest vituperations against Governor Samuel Ortom over the unfortunate industrial action by organized labour in Benue state is yet another evidence of the ill will and the bitterness that a section of the political elite harbor in the state.
His outing was captured in a press statement released on September 12.
If the former interior minister’s intervention is a genuine act of empathy with the workforce over their plight, one would understand and give him the applause he so desperately craves. However, the tone of the statement from someone who ought to appreciate the complexities of the current revenue situation of the country in general and the state in particular smacks of mischief, pettiness and crass partisanship. We have come to understand that those who were displaced in the 2015 elections will cash in on anything to vent their frustrations, even the presence of a monster they created.
Comrade Moro is still in court for allegedly scamming and causing the deaths of job seekers during the Immigration recruitment exercise in 2014
READ ALSO: Restructuring: Northern groups ask Nigerian government to implement 2014 National Conference report
For the purpose of clarity, we wish to state categorically that no one feels the pains of Benue workers more than Governor Samuel Ortom. The governor himself was called upon by the people of his state including the workforce to rescue them from the deteriorating conditions imposed on the them by a terribly corrupt administration which in which Comrade Moro was a major stakeholder at a time the state earned unprecedented revenues.
We make it clear that the current situation in the state brought about by declining revenues is a direct consequence of the corruption and wanton embezzlement that characterized the immediate past administration the unfortunate memory of which the former minister symbolizes. To therefore ignore the root cause of the problem and turn round to magnify the symptoms is the height of hypocrisy and bad faith.
The challenge of salary payment is not unique to Benue alone. While we appreciate the untold hardships suffered by workers and pensioners in the state, we shall not allow mischief makers and active participants in plunder to twist facts and feast on the assumed ignorance of our people.
While we shall consciously steer away from engaging Mr Moro who is obviously bored after his disengagement from public service with ignominy, we shall not hesitate to remind Nigerians of his unsavory antecedents which should morally cripple him from showing up in the public domain where only integrity should confer moral authority.
Nigerians will recall that the self acclaimed Comrade Moro was previously entangled in a messy row with security agencies for illegal possession of fire arms. It took the intervention of his godfather to disentangle him. This same godfather rewarded him with the juicy position of minister for interior where his infamous past caught with him in a most appalling and disgusting manner.
His tenure as interior minister cannot be forgotten in a hurry. The blood stain of scores of unemployed Nigerians who were murdered in cold blood is yet to dry on his filthy hands. It is the peak of insensitivity for a public official to take advantage of the desperation of unemployed youths by fleecing them of their meager resources and ultimately sending them to their early graves. Mr Moro’s numb conscience obviously hasn’t convicted him of this heinous crime.
Someone who is culpable for the multiple deaths of people seeking employment should ordinarily steer clear of employment related matters. He has his day in court to prove his innocence. Any other person can complain but certainly not Abba Moro whose name conjures terrible memories. No wonder that some say the blood of the innocent which he shed haunts him daily as it cries to God for vengeance.
The blood stained former minister also attempted to stand logic on its head by his sweeping denouncement of the Ortom administration claiming that no achievements have been recorded since May 29, 2015. It may be that he continues to be an appendage of his master in Abuja and hasn’t been to Benue in the period he mentioned. If he had been permitted to visit or make inquiries he would have been informed that final accreditation of the College of Health Sciences
The Schools of Nursing and Midwifery the accreditation of which had been withdrawn for four years on account of willful and criminal neglect by the gang of looters with whom the former minister shares kinship of spirit have been reconstructed and are now functioning on a full scale.
Rural roads and other major projects abandoned by his benefactor are now being revived with some including the Oshigbudu-Obagaji road completed. The agricultural revolution which enjoyed only lip service previously is now a reality with farms dotting the entire landscape of the state. Benue yams are now being exported to other countries. There has been massive provision of Primary Health Care Centers with portable water supply as well as face-lift of hundreds of primary schools across the state. Crime has been reduced in the state through the amnesty of program and sustained interface with farmers and herders.
We understand that Moro’s perception of governance is the model established by the previous government in which kleptocracy was the order of the day. The Ortom administration will continue to take measures to determine the actual wage bill of government with the aim of weeding out ghost workers and elimination of demigods who earn multiple wages to the detriment of the state.
We are the first to admit that the situation of workers in Benue is far from ideal. That is why we include their representatives in all finance committees to enable them witness first hand all the incomes of the state. We have hidden nothing from them and have enjoyed a cordial relationship with them since our assumption of office.
We appreciate that their patience has been stretched and we shall continue to transparently manage the resources of the state to ensure that we meet up with our obligations to them. We shall however take exceptions to the antics of mischief makers who it is now apparent have instigated the current strike and wish to fan the embers of discord using the industrial action embarked upon by Organized Labour.
READ ALSO: Opinion: How Nigerian government made Nnamdi Kanu a hero
The former minister by the privileged positions he has held qualifies to be called a statesman even if his character and conduct negate this qualification. The situation in the state requires wise counsel and patriotic interventions and not infantile outbursts from people in positions of leadership. We shall continue to accord respect to deserving leaders who mean well for the state . At the same time , we shall ignore all those who see every situation from the spectacle of politics even when the time for electioneering is still ages away.
Governor Samuel Ortom regrets the current situation regarding prompt payment of wages and appeals to workers to show the understanding they have always shown as the government is devising all means available to it to ameliorate the situation. He appeals to Organized Labour to call off their action and join hands with government in its efforts to find a lasting solution.
When people like the former minister mention fathom sums of money collected by the Ortom administration which makes full disclosure they are inadvertently reminding the workers of the close to N200 billion debts left behind by the previous regime with N69 billion out of the amount being arrears of salaries, pensions and gratuities. If there ought to have been a strike at all it should have been targeted at the G 52 which plundered more than N107 billion which can clear all arrears of workers’ entitlements with a handsome balance.
Your own opinion articles are welcome at info@zenithblog.com — drop an email telling us what you want to write about and why. More details in Zenithblog.com’s step-by-step guide for guest contributors.
We’re ready to trade your news for our money: submit news and photo reports from your area using our Citizen Journalism App.
Contact us if you have any feedback, suggestions, complaints or compliments. We are also available on Facebook and Twitter.
Watch Benue state government officials berating APC officials in the state on ZENITHBLOG.com TV:
Source: Zenithblog.com
0naze
No comments:
Post a Comment