Saturday letter2
It is unfortunate that Governor Ortom of Benue State is visiting churches and donating millions of naira to them despite his inability to pay the salaries of workers in the state. The governor behaves as if he can bribe God and buy the hearts of Christians for his re-election agenda. His N6 million donation to NKST Yima in Makurdi is a confirmation to my assertion.
Governor Ortom thinks that he can re-contest the governorship position in the state and win after his obvious incompetence, particularly with the bailout funds from the Paris Club refunds and his inability to pay workers’ salaries, retirees’ benefits and lack of investment in public projects.
Therefore, I must applaud President Muhammadu Buhari for his recent advice to Nigerians in spite of his poor performance and failure. The president appealed to Nigerians to vote out governors owing salaries of their workers. According to him, despite the bailout funds received by the governors, the workers are still not getting their salaries and he wondered how these governors could sleep comfortably.
Note: many governors in the same party with the president also owe their workers and for the president to advise that they should be voted out without taking sides, it is something to appreciate. But let me also advise Nigerians to equally vote out Mr. President for performing very badly.
In Governor Ortom’s first year in office, he spent more time in China and claimed to be working on how to attract investment into the state as part of his campaign promises on job creation. Where are the companies? There is no single Chinese company in Benue State or any other companies established by the administration.
Rather, the governor expanded unemployment circle in the state as he sacked many workers and accused them of being ghosts. He described the employment of other sacked workers as illegal due to his conflict with the former Governor Gabriel Suswam that employed them. But the same Suswam is now his friend because they are all in PDP and working against Senator Akume and his governorship candidate Dr. Emmanuel Jime.
Nevertheless, those governors who are behaving like Governor Ortom donating money to churches and mosques but could not pay the salaries of the workers in their states should know that they cannot bribe God with their money and buy the hearts of brethren for their selfish interest. The money donated goes into the pockets of the pastors, Imams and their subordinates but has no impact on any member of theses churches and mosques.
Awunah Pius Terwase,
Mpape,
Abuja
