By Dipo Olowookere
Benue State Governor, Mr Samuel Ortom, has said that the condemnation of the proposed cargo airport in the state by the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Saad Abubakar was borne out of ignorance.
Mr Ortom stated this while fielding questions from newsmen shortly after he commissioned ambulances purchased for primary healthcare centres in some local government areas by the Millennium Development Goal (MDGS) yesterday.
“The Sultan spoke in ignorance. Anyone criticizing the cargo airport project is either ignorant, illiterate no matter his level of education, or doing so out of mischief or jealousy,” he said.
The Governor, who also took a swipe on former Lagos State Police Commissioner, Alhaji Abubakar Tsav, for speaking against the building of the cargo airport in the state, disowned him as an indigene of Benue State.
“Mr Tsav is not an indigene of Benue State. We are all aware that his people disowned him and withdrew the Chieftaincy title they conferred on him some years back.
“He has written more than 20 petitions against me. Let him go to Kano where he belongs and leave us alone in Benue. Mr Tsav is one of those who stole N107 billion and we are asking them to bring back our money,” Mr Ortom told journalists.
He noted that that ambulances was neither meant to be used by the sole administrators or meant for conveying dead bodies but to be used for saving lives and warned that anyone found using them illegally would be sanctioned.
“We are not here to do propaganda but here to impact positively on the lives of our people. The ambulances are not meant for carrying corpse but for the living. They are not meant for the sole administrator. But to be used for the purpose it is meant for. Anyone found using them unlawfully would be sanctioned,” the Governor said.
