Tsav is being prosecuted for forgery and falsehood, I am not after him - Ortom explains

macfranc007 August 31, 2018 Nigeria News today & Breaking news ▷ Read Naija news 24/7 Nurudeen Lawal

- Governor Ortom has reacted to the allegations that he is after a former police commissioner for instigating a probe against his government

- The governor said he believed in the rule of law and due process and will not use illegal means to go after anyone

- He explained that the former police chief is being prosecuted for forgery and falsehood

The Benue state governor, Samuel Ortom, said on Thursday, August 30, that the former commissioner of police, Alhaji Abubakar Tsav, apologised to him for fear of being imprisoned.

Ortom who spoke through his special adviser on media and ICT, Tahav Agerzua, said Tsav was being prosecuted for forgery and falsehood.

Tsav had in an interview with The Punch said: “The case of fraud was reported to me by pensioners and the case involved a lot of money and I forwarded it straight to the EFCC on 12th of June 2016.

“But on 20th July 2018, they invited me to the EFCC based on this petition I wrote, I made a statement I also responded to a press interview granted by Waku.”

Tsav said that he had been informed that a criminal case had been preferred against him by the state government, stressing that his recent visit to the EFCC had made the state government to re-open a case against him.

However, the governor in the statement through his media adviser said: “It has become necessary to correct the wrong impression being created by a former commissioner of the Public Complaint Commission in Benue state, Alhaji Abubakar Tsav, that Governor Ortom was after him for instigating a probe against his government.

“Alhaji Tsav is being prosecuted for forgery and falsehood which he peddled in a letter he wrote to the governor of Benue state and copied anti-graft agencies and the presidency.

“In the said letter, the former commissioner of police made reference to purported government documents which he forged. The Benue state attorney general and commissioner of justice instituted criminal proceedings against him so that he could prove his allegations in court.

It added: “Governor Ortom believes in the rule of law and due process and does not use illegal means to go after anyone.

“When it became apparent to Alhaji Tsav that he could not prove his allegations and that the court would jail him, he apologised publicly and the matter was withdrawn.”

The governor said that Tsav came with his chief commissioner and six of his colleagues from the PCC to plead with the governor to withdraw the case.

At the meeting with the governor, the statement said that his colleagues reminded him that as a public complaints commissioner he was not supposed to be a petition writer.

The governor said the former police boss also wrote to the Tor Tiv to intervene in the matter on his behalf.

“The governor told those who intervened that he would withdraw the case on the condition that the former police commissioner would tender a public apology and also write to anti-graft agencies as well as all those he had copied his letter stating that what he wrote was false.

“Alhaji Tsav complied with the terms and the case was withdrawn,” the governor said.

Ortom said the state attorney general had to reopen the case when Abubakar Tsav resumed his falsehood against Governor Ortom and his administration.

The statement recalled that one of the governor’s aides, Abrahams Kwaghngu, sued Alhaji Tsav for defamation and won the case.

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NAIJ.com previously reported that ten months after he wrote a letter accusing Ortom of massive corruption, Tsav, on Tuesday, April 3, apologised to the governor.

Tsav had, in a 10-page letter dated May 16, 2017, which was copied to anti-graft agencies, accused Ortom of “executive recklessness", saying that he had turned Benue into a private estate.

The former police officer, who is currently a public complaints commissioner, accused Ortom of nepotism, saying that he had placed his family business - Oracle Business Ltd - above the state.

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