-says president has failed woefully
By Felix Adeleke
Benue state governor, Samuel Ortom has claimed that the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration has been against him since he banned open grazing in the state in 2017.
The governor was reacting to a statement by the presidency on Wednesday blaming his administration for the killings in the state.
Ortom, Chief Press Secretary, Nathaniel Ikyur, accused the presidency of placing cows above human lives.
Benue has been in the news for months over violent attacks on residents by suspected bandits.
On Wednesday, the presidency said Ortom should be blamed for the killings, alleging that he rejected interventions from President Muhammadu Buhari to address the situation.
Reacting on Thursday, Ortom described the Presidency’s statement as “a reckless stab by agents of genocide against the Benue people by blaming the victims.”
The Benue state governor likened the statement of the presidency to making animals urinate in the graves of victims of herdsmen invasion of the state, alleging that the president was indeed responsible for the killings in the state.
He said, “The Presidency has shown in this recent public statement that they have placed cows above human lives and made the animals urinate on the graves of those they massacred in Benue and elsewhere across the country. If not, they wouldn’t have gone to town to mock the slain in their graves.
“It is an insult to Benue people including those killed and butchered children, the maimed, raped and abused women and the over two million people living under squalid conditions in Nigeria’s largest Internally Displaced Camps in the state.
“The Presidency’s statement is a reckless stab by agents of genocide against the Benue people by blaming the victims.
He said, “The Presidency has shown in this recent public statement that they have placed cows above human lives and made the animals urinate on the graves of those they massacred in Benue and elsewhere across the country. If not, they wouldn’t have gone to town to mock the slain in their graves.
“It is an insult to Benue people including those killed and butchered children, the maimed, raped and abused women and the over two million people living under squalid conditions in Nigeria’s largest Internally Displaced Camps in the state.
“The Presidency’s statement is a reckless stab by agents of genocide against the Benue people by blaming the victims.
Ortom alleged that the ongoing killings in the state was a designed plot by the Fulani against the people of the state to dispossess them of their lands adding that the atrocities were well documented.
“The perpetrators are also well known to local and international authorities. Through this recent posturing, everyone is now aware that the perpetrators have the backing and sympathy of the Federal Government.
On the mockery of PDP and Ortom’s senatorial seat loss, the outgoing governor said that such mockery now strengthens his belief that the massive deployment of security personnel for the elections in the state was planned and hatched in the presidential villa and supervised by agents of the APC.
Ortom who said he had publicly announced his readiness to sacrifice his senatorial seat for equity and justice however said that ‘the 2023 elections were heavily rigged using some security operatives, money, federal might and electronic means.
” Governor Ortom’s decision not to challenge the result of the Benue North West Senatorial election in court again points to the fact that he is not a selfish and desperate politician.
While describing the presidency’s statement as the ‘height of recklessness and gross insensitivity against the people of Benue’, Ortom said he had always given full cooperation to all layers of security agencies working in the state to help curtail the menace of the Fulani killing squad displacing various communities in the state and other internal security skirmishes.
“Between 2015 and this year, Governor Ortom has constantly held security meetings and gathered intelligence to support security agencies operating in the state.
“He has however consistently pointed out that the security agencies are grossly underfunded and deserve to be better equipped and motivated to tackle insecurity in the country.
“It is therefore laughable when Shehu ignorantly tries to whip up an unfounded lie against the Governor,” the statement read in parts.