No plot to impeach Ortom—Benue govt

By Peter Duru

Makurdi—Benue State Government, yesterday, dismissed insinuations that the House of Assembly had activated the process of impeaching Governor Samuel Ortom, which compelled security operatives to cordon off the Assembly complex on Tuesday.

Government also described as baseless rumours making the rounds that Ortom planned to dissolve the elected leadership of the 23 local government areas of the state.

In a statement by the governor’s Special Adviser on Media and ICT, Mr. Tahav Agerzua, the government said: “Media speculations that the Benue State House of Assembly, Tuesday July 10, sat to consider the impeachment of Governor Samuel Ortom are entirely baseless.

“From the provisions of the 1999 Constitution, it is impracticable for any House of Assembly to impeach a governor in one day because, according to constitutional provisions, the processes leading to the impeachment of the governor take not less than three months to consummate.

“In the case of Benue State Governor, not one of the impeachment proce-dures has been activated.

“Similarly, rumours making the rounds that the governor was about to dissolve the 23 elected local government councils in the state have no justification.”

-Vanguardngr