5
Total tracked
1
Kept
1
Partial / mixed
3
Broken
Kept
Partial / mixed
Broken
In progress
Partial
The promise
Promised to end recurring farmer-herder clashes in Benue's agrarian communities.
Assessment
Signed the Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law in May 2017, later hailed as a reference point for other states; enforcement reduced some attacks but was also blamed for over 100 security-operative deaths and required a temporary suspension in April 2023 amid renewed violence.
Kept
The promise
Promised to stand by the anti-open grazing law despite political pressure to reverse it.
Assessment
Ortom said he rejected an offer of ₦75 billion to repeal the law, maintaining it throughout his tenure despite sustained pushback.
Broken
The promise
Campaigned on prudent fiscal management of Benue's resources.
Assessment
Handover notes put Ortom-era liabilities at ₦187.56 billion in loans, bonds, contractual obligations and arrears (his successor separately claimed ₦359 billion); Ortom's camp disputed the larger figure as inflated, but did not dispute that the state's debt burden grew substantially, more than tripling the level inherited from Suswam by some estimates.
Broken
The promise
Promised accountable use of state resources including security-vote spending amid the farmer-herder crisis.
Assessment
The EFCC investigated an alleged ₦21.3 billion in unaccounted withdrawals from government accounts (2015-2018), and a later state government-commissioned panel found ₦139.8 billion in unaccounted funds across the full 2015-2023 tenure.