Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State has denied collecting N40 billion from World Nations Development Programme (WNDP) to facilitate the building of housing estates for the communities ravaged by herdsmen attack in Agatu Local Government Area of the state…

“The rumour is baseless and concocted from the pit of hell by mischief makers to tarnish his image. Neither me nor the Program Coordinator, Dr. Noah Adeboh collected any dime from WNDP. They are going to execute the project at no expense of the villagers nor government.”

“The organisation which is non-governmental or profit oriented wanted to build the 2,000 units of 2 bedrooms for free. The organisation wanted to build the housing units in Agatu, Guma and Kwande Local Government Areas of the state, I am pained that the Agatu youths were opposing the construction of the housing estates for the singular reason that they must be compensated before anything could be done on their land.”

“The fight over land and fish pond must end and we will not apply the stick approach now but after this grace period, we will apply the stick. I want Agatu to be developed and that the reason why I awarded the road from Oshugbudu to Ogbagaji and others was to make the place better and developed.”