Manage state finances responsibly — Samuel Ortom

Security

End farmer-herder conflict through open grazing prohibition

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.

Governance

Resist pressure to repeal the anti-grazing law

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.

Fiscal

Clear inherited pension and salary arrears

Broken

The promise

Promised to resolve the salary and pension arrears inherited from the Suswam administration.

Assessment

Ortom said he reduced the pension backlog by ₦38 billion and handed over about 5 months of salary arrears to his successor in 2023, but the overall debt and arrears picture worsened rather than improved over the two terms, according to handover figures his own administration provided.

Fiscal

Manage state finances responsibly

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.

Governance

Transparent, accountable use of security funds

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.