Nigerian Concord Newspaper
An advocacy group, Benue For Good Governance has called on the embattled Benue Northwest Senatorial candidate of the National Democratic Congress, Engineer Conrad Terhide Utaan to focus on his multiple fraud allegations and land grabbing cases in Abuja, and stop hiding under faceless media handlers to attack the candidate of the People’s Democratic Party for Zone B, Dr. Eunice Ortom, PhD.
The advocacy group in its press statement signed and made available to this newspaper this morning by its Director of Media and Publicity, Comrade Sebastine Atume, PhD warned that such action will force the group to expose how Utaan has been involving himself in land grabbing and other fraudulent activities in Abuja.
According to the group, the NDC candidate has involved in more ten land grabbing cases in Abuja. “It’s on record that Engineer Utaan has been using some faceless media handlers associated with his campaigns to carry out campaigns of calumny against the immediate past first lady of Benue State, Her Excellency, Dr. Eunice Ortom, PhD” the group added in the statement.
The statement reads in parts: “This is a man who has been defrauding people with fake lands in Abuja. This is where he made the money he is spending lavishly in Benue and instead of him to concentrate on the multiple land fraud cases hanging on his neck in Abuja, he is busy using his social media handlers to propagate lies against the former first lady.
“While serving as the Benue State Focal Person at the National Social Investment Programme, Engineer Utaan was accused of defrauding food vendors across the state and that led to his sack in 2018.
“In one of such instance, it is alleged that Utaan connived with Sterling Bank to force poor food Vendors to pay 20,000 and above to open up accounts with the bank. He was also accused of using the Benue Social Investment office to connive with First City Monumental Bank to force vendors to pay N5000 as account opening fee.
“In April 2018, the Director of Security Services indicted Utaan of using the Benue State Social Investment office to be deducting the sum of 25000 from each food vendor. How can Utaan who was accused of poor coordination and misappropriation of funds as the Benue State focal person of the Social Investment Programme think that he is capable of representing a senatorial zone.
“We are using this medium to advise Engineer Utaan to consider the benevolence he had got from the former first family of Benue State and desist from using the social media to attack Dr. Eunice Ortom. He should concentrate on how he will overcome the multiple land fraud cases on his neck in Abuja and stop wasting his time to attack an innocent woman who has always played the role of a mother to him”
The group however called on well-meaning people of Benue Northwest Senatorial Zone to disregard all the false allegations that are being made against the PDP senatorial candidate by the paid agents of falsehood who were recruited by Utaan just because he couldn’t secure the PDP ticket during the last consensus arrangement arrangement.