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Politics Updated: August 11, 2022

Benue: PDP Says APC Politics Will Chase Investors

By Maureen Okpe
August 11, 2022
Bemgba Iortym,at a press conference in Makurdi
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The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has called out the opposition party on an alleged desperate move to de-market the state ahead of the 2023 general elections.

The PDP State Publicity Secretary, Bemgba Iortym made the accusation on Thursday at a press conference in Makurdi, the state capital.

He said the opposition party has lately taken to attacking everything about the administration of Governor Ortom, including development projects as well as security initiatives worked on to improve the situation within the boundaries of the state as well as the quality of life available to the people.

"We understand that as the 2023 elections draw closer political parties will naturally deploy various strategies towards enhancing their attractiveness to the electorate, and in many respects, those might include making their opponents look unattractive.

"This in politics is acceptable but only to the extent where all parties recognise the existence of the red line where individual and group interests end and the corporate interests of the state entity such as Benue take over.

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"Those are interests which are sacrosanct and inviolable and which must take preeminence over all other individual and group interests within the state.

"But sadly, the opposition APC since losing power in the state in 2018 with the defection from their fold of Governor Samuel Ortom to the PDP have by their conduct disregarded that preeminent status of Benue.

Speaking further, Bemgba noted that APC in Benue currently have adopted what may be termed a scorched earth strategy, which is a military concept deployed in war whereby every resource available to the enemy including the very soil on which he stands is considered a legitimate target which must be destroyed.

"Going into the 2023 elections, APC in Benue is seeking to win power and they consider as legitimate target everything identifiable with the Ortom administration, be they physical development projects or ideas which seek the preservation and advancement of the interests of the state and her peoples under an increasingly competitive and to some extent hostile national environment.

"Today APC has mobilised attacks within and outside Benue against the recently established Ethanol Production Industry in Makurdi and the Benue Community Volunteer Guards (BCVGs) which Governor Ortom commissioned recently.

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"The establishment of the Ethanol Plant established by a Chinese consortium as a direct foreign investment is a significant gain from the concerted efforts of Governor Samuel Ortom to market Benue State to the international community with a view to wooing foreign investors to the state.

"The industry represents a major boost to the agriculture sector of the state which runs a predominantly agrarian economic structure, and this is evident in the impact on the production of cassava in the state as the main raw material for the industry, with the attendant multiplier effects on the economy in multiple areas of related activities."

Speaking on the state of insecurity in the state, PDP said, "With the prevailing insecurity across the country and with the widely known situation of Fulani herdsmen armed attacks on Benue in particular, it was a feat of no mean proportions that the Chinese Investors were attracted to the state to cite that particular industry here and this is a feat which must be appreciated by all who mean well for Benue as a state regardless of what their objectives might be. 

"Unfortunately, APC has over the past few days launched a campaign of calumny against the plant, labelling it first as a private business concern of the governor and as well as an outlet for the production and marketing of illicit gin popularity known in local parlance as 'Ogogoro'.

"The Benue Security on the other hand as recently commissioned by Governor Ortom is a very last resort to self-preservation since it has become clear that the regular security apparatus of the country under the incumbent administration of President Muhammadu Buhari will not be able to protect the people from wanton killings and their displacement from their lands.

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"This initiative too has been under attack from APC since its commissioning, with the opposition party deriding it as more or a collection of thugs by the governor, and even alluding criminal characterisation of the outfit while at the same time calling on security agencies to put it under watch.

"Regardless that this is coming from a partisan platform, its aspirations transcend the limits of partisan political considerations, as it aims to appeal to reason on what ought to be the limit where all politics should confluence into the larger pool of the interests of society."

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Maureen Okpe

Maureen is a media practitioner and an impeccable writer with close to 4 years active experience wor...

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