24th November, 2023
The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Benue State has urged Governor Hyacinth Alia to absolve himself of allegations of misapplication of over N46 N in line with his sworn oath of office on accountability and transparency.
The Spokesman to the Governor, Tersoo Kula had on Monday dispelled allegations of impropriety against Alia in a section of media, insisting that he is prudent with state funds.
During a press conference in Makurdi on Thursday, Publicity Secretary of the Benue State Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Mr Bemgba Iortyom, said the PDP was concerned about the mounting allegations of duplication of contractual payments and other huge expenditures against Governor Hyacinth Alia from various public sources.
He posited that over the past few days, the media space has been awash with publications from various news media alleging that the Benue State Governor has squandered over N46 billion for purposes which are questionable as to how they align with good governance.
Iortyom mentioned that notable and renowned online news platforms have in separate publications splashed details of expenditure by Governor Alia running into tens of billions of naira in what appears to be duplication of contracts, refurbished “palliative” vehicles, travel expenses, hotel accommodation, purchase of vehicles, cost of running the government house and catering for guests and other sundry purposes.
He said, ” A summary of the allegations of questionable expenditure of public funds by Governor Alia as reported by different media outlets include that between May 29 and September 30th, 2023, Governor Hyacinth Alia of Benue State has spent more than N46 billion of state resources on various purposes, prominent among which are expenses for duplicated contracts, his travels, vehicles, hotel bills, cost of running Government House etc”.