Report On Ortom And Nomination Forms Reckless, Unprofessional…Akase
From Msughshima Andrew, Makurdi
Benue State government has denied reports that Governor Samuel Ortom allegedly blocked the sale of forms to governorship aspirants of the Social Democratic Party, SDP, in the state.
A press statement signed by the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Ortom, Terver Akase states “We read a story in Saturday Independent of September 1, 2018 in which the reporter alleged that Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom has blocked the sale of forms to governorship aspirants of the Social Democratic Party, SDP.
“We wonder where the newspaper got the false and misleading information. The report is totally baseless.
The letter states that Governor Ortom is a member of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP and not SDP and could therefore not have stopped anyone in SDP from purchasing nomination forms.
Even in PDP, the Governor has not prevented other aspirants from buying nomination forms, so why would he interfere with the process of another political party?
The said newspaper report is apparently sponsored, reckless and highly unprofessional.
The reporter failed to quote any source of his information despite stating that “Saturday Independent reliably learnt that as a political strategy, the governor may have blocked the sale of nomination forms to other aspirants in the SDP”. Such a sweeping statement ought to have been supported with evidence.
“We also found ridiculous, the claim in the report that Governor Ortom has secretly purchased his PDP nomination form. Why would a sitting Governor go to pick his party’s nomination form in secret? Political parties do not sell their nomination forms in secret.
While the statement urge members of the public to disregard the said report in its entirety it further states that “Journalists should be nation builders. Responsible journalism contributes to the growth of society, but when reporters become manufacturers of fake news to mislead the people, the society has cause to worry.
