Governor Ortom threatens to slam N10b libel suit on Oshiomhole for telling why he failed to pay salaries
Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State has demanded a public apology from the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole, within seven days or be ready to face legal action.
Ortom, in a letter written to the APC chairman, dated August 6, 2018, by his counsel, Samuel Irabor, claimed that his reputation was injured by an allegedly sponsored press conference held in Abuja on Friday, July 27th, 2018, “at the instance of Oshiomhole”.
The governor’s lawyer in the letter stated that “the sponsored press conference which was entirely centered on the person of Governor Ortom, made very astonishing, unsubstantiated allegations against the governor relating to the issue of allocation and payment of salaries, security votes expenditure and the insecurity in Benue State”.
He stressed that the aggregate of the allegations emphasised that his client confessed to sharing Benue State money with party leaders and that despite collection of bail-out and Paris Club refund monies, the governor could not pay workers’ salaries, among others.
The letter added that “the only inference to draw from the unproven allegations which was informed by a dangerously cultivated, albeit unwarranted malice against the governor was to demand for retraction, apology and a N10 billion payment for aggravated damages against the person of Ortom.
