By Uzair Adam Imam
Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State and his Benue State counterpart, Samuel Ortom, have denied the allegation of corruption and diversion of public funds laid against governors by President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday.
The duo challenged the president to name the governors he accused of stealing and diverting the funds meant for local governments.
The president, at an event hosted for members of the Senior Executive Course 44 (2022), accused the state governors of corruption and diversion of the local government alocations to own personal treasury.
He said the state governors used to collect money on behalf of the council areas in their states and remit just half of such allocation to the council chairman.
He also described the development as one of the major challenges that hinders the country’s development.
However, Wike and Ortom challenged Buhari to name those he claimed were stealing local government funds on Friday at the inauguration of the Mgbuosimini internal road project in Port Harcourt, Rivers capital.
The governors said the president claims could be termed as defamation against the state governors.