Barely 10 years after the conduct of the 2019 governorship election in Benue State which the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Chief Samuel Ortom winner and elected governor of the state, his predecessor, Senator Gabriel Suswam, has said that his successor won only in three out of seven local government areas in Benue North East senatorial district.

Suswam, who reportedly fuelled the political animosity while speaking at a Thanksgiving Service in honour of ex-Nigeria envoy to Mexico, Prof Steve Torkuma Ugba, in Ugba in Logo Local Government Area of the state, said Ortom won in only the three local government areas that make up Sankera and lost the rest of the local government areas in Benue North East (Zone A).

But reacting swiftly in a statement by his media aide, Dr. Terver Akase, Ortom described his predecessor’s allegation as “not only false but grossly misleading and indeed entirely unfounded.”

Ortom said: “It is shocking that such a claim would come from a man who not only governed Benue State for two terms, but also represented Zone A in the Senate and actively participated in that year’s election” would come out to mislead the people especially this time that another round of elections are coming”.