Benue State governor, Samuel Ortom has revealed how God told him 25 years ago that he would be the governor of the state.
Ortom, who described his ascension to the governorship seat as divine, said God mandated him to be transparent, fair and just while overseeing the affairs of the state.
He told Daily Sun that he had been finding it difficult to account for what the immediate past administration led by Gabriel Suswam achieved.
Recalling his first encounter with God, Ortom said, “God told me that I would be governor; that was in 1992, but I was waiting for my time until 2012, when God told me it’s 2015, so I started work.
“My aspiration was divine, I am not just coming in for the sake of contesting and winning election; I have a divine mandate, to execute the counsel of God over the land, to lead with the fear of God, and that would translate to transparency, equity, fairness, justice, accountability, honesty, selflessness, discipline and integrity in governance.
“Those are the core values that had been missing, and you see everything upside down in Nigeria. If we have those values, things would work well.”
On why many projects are left undone in Benue State, the former Trade and Investment Minister said, “You see, it is difficult to account for what the past administration did; I wasn’t there, we are still studying the situation up till today.
“But the truth is that we came in, we saw that there was need to upgrade facilities; there was dearth of infrastructure in the state. We came with the sole aim of reviving the state, and we think we have the capacity despite the paucity of funds.
“So, whatever we are able to do, prudently, we get into it; those structures you saw, we would come to them as soon as we get funds.”
