Akume to Gov. Ortom: Your PhD certificate is fake

Former Governor of Benue State, George Akume, has accused his successor, Governor Samuel Ortom, of parading a fake university PhD certificate.
Akume levelled the accusation on Sunday at an expanded caucus meeting of the All Progressives Congress at Castle Event Center, Makurdi.
He said the PhD paraded by Ortom was from non-existing university, Commonwealth University, Berlin.
The former Senate Minority Leader also accused Ortom of running the state’s National Social Investment Programme as his family business.
Akume said: “Ortom said he has PhD from Commonwealth University, Berlin, but there is nothing like Commonwealth University.
“At least I am a graduate of University of Ibadan where I bagged my first and second degrees.
“I am also a fellow Institute of Management and I had PhD honorary degree from University of Jos.”
Akume said the claim by Ortom that he (Ortom) had been a strong politician at the time he (Akume) was a civil servant and a protocol officer who used to serve him (Ortom) was wrong.
Akume said: “I never saw Ortom in Government House at that period.”
The former governor also said he has been winning elections in the state, alleging that if not for him, Ortom would not have won the 2015 governorship election.
He said Ortom lost in that election in his local government, adding: “But I won election in 1999.
“He (Ortom) was in SDP.
“Also in 2003.
“And when I moved to ACN (Action Congress of Nigeria), I also won elections, but the last election, Ortom lost in his local government.
“When I was building PDP (Peoples Democratic Party), where was Ortom?”
Akume accused the governor of attacking Buhari to attract symparthy, saying that all federal interventions due to the state had been granted.
The former governor called on Ortom to pay the salary arrears of the workers, especially pensioners, who he said were dying as a result of non-payment of the allowances.
But Ortom, through his Special Adviser on Media and ICT, Tahav Agerzua, said PhD has never been a requisite for election.
He enjoined Akume to render account of his stewardship since he has been in the Senate.
He said: “Akume is not an accreditation authority and he cannot speak on that.
“In any case, that has no basis because a PhD is not prerequisite for governorship.
“So it is diversionary tactics.
“What he said has nothing to do with elections, but let him give account of his stewardship.
“He should stop assessing others.
“He is not an assessment authority.”
Ortom boasted that in all the elections in the state, he had always been a contributing factor to Akume’s victory.