GOV ORTOM TO PRESIDENCY: Focus on ending insecurity, fix economy instead of attacking me

*You, not Benue gov spreading division, hate, PDP replies Presidency

By Kajo Martins, Makurdi

Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, on Thursday, asked the Presidency to focus on ending the killings of innocent Nigerians as well as fix the nation’s economy instead of attacking him.

Governor Ortom said this in reaction to the Presidency’s response on Wednesday to his recent interview on Channels Television in which he raised a number of concerns bordering on the worsening security situation across the country.

The Presidency through Garba Shehu, senior special assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, had in its response to the interview accused the Benue governor of “using language reminiscent of the Rwandan genocide” to cause the deaths of Nigerians.

But reacting, Gov Ortom through his Chief Press Secretary, Terver Akase, in a statement, on Thursday, said he spoke the minds of many Nigerians on the
“specific areas of failure of the presidency and its complicity in the heinous crimes committed against citizens by armed Fulani herdsmen and other terrorists”.

The statement reads: “The governor spoke the minds of most Nigerians on specific areas of failure of the Presidency and its complicity in the heinous crimes committed against citizens by armed Fulani herdsmen and other terrorists”.

“Instead of taking the Governor on those points, Shehu went chasing vain and mundane matters in a desperate attempt to malign the Governor.

“We demand an apology from the presidency for accusing Governor Ortom of stirring ethnic tensions and calling for genocide.

The presidency has never hidden its hatred for the governor and its latest outing only confirms that fact.

“We are aware of the presidency’s plot to cause crisis in Benue and make the state ungovernable and declare a state of emergency.

Whenever each of their plans fails as it happened with the impeachment attempt on the governor before the 2019 elections, they resort to cheap blackmail.

“They accuse Governor Ortom of making a law to chase Fulanis out of Benue; a claim that lacks substance and only goes to prove that they have not read the Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law of the state.

They can’t justify their narrative that Governor Ortom hates Fulanis when some of his appointees are Fulani.

“We advise the Presidency to focus on ending the killing of innocent Nigerians, fix the economy as it promised and stop the stinking corruption under their watch.

“They can’t run away from their responsibility. They were brought to power to serve the country not to oppress the people and suppress their freedom of speech.

“They are on record to have publicly promised during their campaigns before the 2015 elections that they would respect the rights and freedoms of Nigerians if elected.

Sadly, what the people of this country have got from the current government is the opposite of that promise.”

The Benue State governor, according to Akase, stands by his words that this is not the first time a Fulani man is President of Nigeria, and also that it is the first time the country has been divided on ethnic lines with lopsided appointments in promotion and celebration of nepotism, marginalisation and open repugnance of other Nigerians.

“At no time in the history of this country have impunity, blatant disregard for laws, sectarian as well as ethnic differences been fueled by the government as is the case now”.

Gov Ortom urged Nigerians to call the Presidency to order before it destroys the country, pointing out that if nothing is done fast to avert the impending disaster, armed herders, bandits and other terrorists will one day take over Aso Rock Villa and those occupying the Villa at the moment will willingly surrender to them and flee from the country.

The statement said no day passes without reports of herdsmen and other terrorists killing defenseless Nigerians in parts of the country with the number of displaced people rising to millions, yet, the Presidency wants everyone to remain silent while the country burns.

Akase said the Presidency must realise that no amount of blackmail and media attack can discourage the Governor from speaking against the injustice and pain the present government has caused Nigerians; emphasising that no amount of sponsored smear campaigns against the Governor can force him to repeal the law on open grazing of cattle in Benue State.

According to the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, to describe as ‘undistinguished’, the career of a man who has held many key positions at the state and national levels proves that those who penned the piece were under the influence of some negative substances.

“For the information of Garba Shehu and his cohorts, Governor Ortom rose to become a Local Government Chairman, State Publicity Secretary of National Centre Party of Nigeria; State Treasurer of All People’s Party, State Secretary as well as State Deputy Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, National Auditor of PDP, Minister of the Federal Republic and now a two-term Governor,” Akese stated.

Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has asserted that the Buhari Presidency is responsible for spreading division and hatred among Nigerians and not Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom, as claimed in the Presidency’s statement on Wednesday.

PDP’s position is against the backdrop of an inciting hate statement issued by the Buhari Presidency in a bitter personal attack on Governor Ortom on Wednesday, in which the Presidency made allusions to genocides in Rwanda.

The PDP recalled how the Buhari Presidency has been planting seeds of discord in the country with hate language, divisive tendencies and unconcealed nepotism, to the extent that our nation has become widely divided along all fault lines.

“Nigerians have not forgotten how President Buhari, ahead of the 2011 general elections declared that “if what happened in 2011 should again happen in 2015, by the grace of God, the dog and the baboon would all be soaked in blood”.

“Moreover, Nigerians can recall how Mr. President tagged those whom he believed did not vote for him; how he described citizens as “dot in a circle,” as well as the hate language that attracted sanctions by Twitter.

“It is rather alarming that instead of taking steps to address the killings in Benue state as well as the worsening insecurity, carnages, banditry, terrorism and imminent humanitarian crisis in the country, the Buhari Presidency is thinking of Rwandan Genocide while exposing its deep-seated detestation for Governor Ortom.

“Governor Ortom is a highly principled and forthright leader, who is loved not only in Benue, but also across the nation.

The PDP urges Nigerians to hold the Buhari Presidency responsible should any harm come to him or his family members.

“As a party, the PDP demands that the Buhari Presidency should come clean on its handling of insecurity in the country.

This is particularly against the backdrop of its manifest failure to battle and rout out terrorists, bandits, kidnappers and marauders that have taken over our highways, forests, pillaging communities and killing Nigerians on daily basis.

“Under President Buhari’s lethargic regime, bandits and terrorists have become so emboldened that they now attack military formations, including the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) where they killed and kidnapped officers for ransom.

“The PDP therefore calls on President Buhari to rein in his aides, wake up from his slumber and decisively address the worsening insecurity in the country under his watch,” the opposition party said in a statement.