By Hillary Agber
On assumption of office of Rev Fr Hyacinth Iormem Alia PhD. as Governor of Benue State and driven by the curiosity of having something to show the people on his 100 days in office, the Governor tasked Triacta Nigeria Limited a construction company with existing presence in the state with an award of 16 Township Roads in Makurdi the state capital valued 9.2 Billion Naira.
The company delivered substantially and most of the projects were commissioned on the occasion of his 100 days in office. The contractor has been doing the jobs with speed of light and have so far delivered over 90% of the projects.
Trouble started for the company when Moses Ternenge an associate of the Governor demanded 10% on each of the 16 jobs, a demand that was unrealistic and the company couldn’t meet. Since then it has been one trouble or the other arising from the conspiracy of Moses Ternenge with some other government officials to frustrate the contractor.
It is unimaginable that a contractor that is handling priority projects for the government of Benue State to be frustrated by government officials of the same Government as if they are intently working against the government.
As at the point of writing this story, the site manager of Triacta Nigeria Limited Engr Nabil Nassal and 4 of the company trucks with materials for the ongoing projects are in police custody on the orders of the Principal Special Assistant to the Governor on Mining Mr Stephen Utah for merely conveying already dumped materials at the yard of the contractor to the project site. with an allegation that Government has banned mining. Some of the foreign expertrates of the company are being detained at the Police Zenda office on Naka Road opposite the Timber shade. All efforts to contact them have been frustrated by the police.
Mr Utah had demanded and collected a bribe of an undisclosed amount given to him by the contractor through a bank transfer to his account that will be published in my subsequent story if the concerned Government appointee denies. Same Mr Stephen Utah further demanded from the contractor another whooping sum of 150 Million before the company will be allowed to continue work using the already dumped materials.
The said associate of the Governor Ternenge Moses whose demand was not met by the contractor sparked the whole problems for Triacta Nigeria Limited has been involved in every controversy and corrupt deals around the Governor, an image that is not good for a Governor who is seemingly said to be coming to equity with clean hands but unfortunately with dirty hands of appointees and associates.
If associates like Moses Ternenge and the Principal Special Assistant to the Governor on Mining Mr Stephen Utah with such heinous allegations against them are still tolerated by the Governor, it therefore means the hand of Esau and the voice of Jacob. Which implies that they are indirectly doing the bidding of the Governor.
It is gathered from impeccable sources that Mr Ternenge Moses vowed and made it impossible for the company to have access to the Governor. It is not yet confirmed that the Governor is aware of what the contractor is going through or he is being manipulated to deny the contractor access to him, further enquiries or the action of the Governor will reveal that.
Now that the activities on Mr Ternenge Moses and Stephen Utah are in public glare, the Governor should call the contractor to get first hand information about these allegations and call his associate and aide to order before he will be seen as acting for him.
Our sources are working hard on getting more documents to support these claims. As we speak.
