Ortom did not give FG land for ranches – Benue PDP

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Benue State has rejected the claim by the new Benue State Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Chief Solomon Iorpev, that the administration of former Governor Samuel Ortom granted the Federal Government the liberty to establish ranches in certain parts of Benue State on October 16, 2017.

Iorpev, after his maiden State Executive Council meeting as a commissioner last Friday, told newsmen that “Exactly on the 16th of October 2017, the previous administration had given the Federal Government liberty to go ahead and create ranches within this area.”

He stated that “Government is a continuum, we have inherited that and the Government is taking steps to establish or rather make requests move into this areas…” though he added that the state government is still consulting with the people.

In a swift reaction, the PDP, in a statement signed by the State Secretary, Dan Nyikwagh, described the claim as blatantly false, mischievous and completely unfounded, adding that it was an attempt to rewrite the history of a matter that is well documented and known to the people of Benue State.

The party said, “If the Commissioner is certain of his claim, we challenge him to produce the document supporting this claim. Where is the alleged grant? Was it a Bill, an Executive Council resolution, an official government correspondence, a gazette, a land allocation instrument or simply something discovered in the imagination of those currently searching for a convenient history for political survival?”

The statement further read, “For the avoidance of doubt, the Benue State Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law, 2017 was signed into law by Governor Samuel Ortom on May 22, 2017, following extensive consultations with stakeholders. The law provided a six-month transition period and was to take effect in November 2017.

“Therefore, as at October 2017, the law was already in existence. There was no provision in that law granting the Federal Government any portion of Benue land for the establishment of ranches.

“Indeed, the idea that Governor Ortom would, on October 16, 2017, secretly grant land to the Federal Government for ranching while the state was implementing legislation specifically designed to prohibit open grazing and regulate ranch establishment is so fundamentally contradictory that it requires more than a press briefing to make it believable.”

The PDP advised the Commissioner to produce the document or withdraw the allegation, saying there was no third option for a government that claimed to be guided by facts.

The Benue State PDP cautioned that it would not allow the history of the state to be rewritten through “politically convenient falsehoods.”

The party insisted that those who seek to defend their present record by manufacturing allegations against a previous administration should first remember that the archives are less politically flexible than press conferences.