Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State has announced plans by his administration to confer a posthumous honour on Major Gideon Gwaza Orkar on Saturday, May 20, 2023.
Major Orkar was the key mastermind of the April 22, 1990 military coup aimed at toppling the government of Gen. Ibrahim Babangida.
During his speech, Orgar announced that the North Western part of Nigeria had been yanked off the country on the basis of religious extremism.
The coup however failed, Orkar and his co-coupists were tried by military tribunal, found guilty and we’re executed.
Addressing newsmen after the executive council meeting in Makurdi, Governor Samuel Ortom, who spoke through his Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Mr. Michael Inalegwu, said that a street would be named after Orkar in Makurdi, to immortalise him.
The Governor said that events have proven that Orkar was right in all his assertions though, when Orkar was talking, nobody took him seriously. But now, everything he said is coming to pass.
Ortom also disclosed that he would formally hand over on May 28, saying it was meant to decongest activities on the 29th, the swearing in of the new governor.