Ortom urges arrest, trial of Benue APC chair’s killers

Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State has condemned the killing of the All Progressives Congress (APC) chairman in Ohimini Council, Boniface Okloho, urging security agents to apprehend and prosecute the perpetrators.

In his condolence message yesterday in Makurdi, the governor described the act as barbaric, anti-democratic and capable of derailing the electoral process in the area.

He reminded residents that violence had no place in democracy, adding that those who take lives in the name of politics were the real enemies of the state.

Ortom prayed to God to accept the soul of the deceased and grant his family the fortitude to bear the great loss.

Meanwhile, the party’s governorship candidate, Emmanuel Jime, has said the postponement of last weekend’s elections ridiculed Nigeria before the international community.

On the development, he stated: “I was devastated. I could not believe it. But we are patiently waiting on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) before one could conclude that the process has not been compromised.

“I really lack the actual word to describe how I feel about this postponement after all the capital and human resources that have been committed. How can INEC wake up few hours to the elections and say they have postponed them after almost four years of planning?

“And I watch with dismay seeing our corps members sleep on bare floors and in buses after being stranded in the various local governments they were posted as (electoral officers).”

He decried a situation where some people were recalling a similar happening in 2015, stating that the nation should be forward-looking and not otherwise.

On the contrary, the standard-bearer of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), Rev Frederick Ikyaan, said there was not anything untoward about the action, pointing out that God had a purpose for what had transpired.

Also reacting, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leadership in the state viewed the decision as the “climax of an era of deceit, insensitivity and ineptitude of the APC.”

Its publicity secretary, Bemgba Iortyom, told reporters that the move had allegedly thrown the country into a state of confusion, pain and anger.