The man does not mask his anger. He is driven by rage and outrage. He does not stalk whenever he has a message to deliver. He is, more often than not, given to dropping bombshells. Indeed, he is the enfant terrible of Benue politics. That is Governor Samuel Ortom, the man that does not suffer fools gladly. He loathes sycophants and their obsequious displays.
Now, Ortom is in the eye of the storm for his terrifying candidness. Those who cannot come to terms with his forthrightness are complaining. They are trying to give him a bad name in order to hang him. How and when did Ortom become such a thorn in the flesh? A little rehash will remind us that Ortom was once part of the order that installed Buhari as President in 2015. But less than two years after Buhari’s ascension to the presidential throne, Ortom had cause to part ways with him.
Confronted with what looked like genocide against his people, Ortom kept politics aside and confronted the existential condition that his people faced. The situation at that point in time was that Benue, the state he superintendents over, was being trampled upon by rampaging terrorists. The state, before his very eyes, was reduced to a killing field. The situation drove him into rage. He talked tough. And took tough decisions. One of them was his audacious move against the blood-thirsty Fulani herdsmen who massacred over 70 indigenes of Benue State at New Year’s Eve midnight. That was in 2017. The man had put in place an anti-open grazing law. The objective was to ensure that the activities of the nomadic herders were brought under control. The overall objective was to rescue Benue State from the vice grip of bloodsuckers.
Since Ortom took that bold step, the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) has been at war with him. The association has said that Benue will know no peace unless the anti-open grazing law is repealed by the governor. Between Ortom and MACBAN, the situation has been one of eyeball to eyeball. In a situation such as the one Ortom found in his Benue State, he had thought that the law would catch up with nation-wreckers who masquerade as cattle breeders. It is unimaginable that a Miyetti Allah would threaten to kill and actually go ahead to kill, yet nothing happens. Rather than run away from the law for crimes committed, Miyetti Allah would audaciously call for a press conference at which it would own up to the criminal act and give conditions that must be met if it must sheathe its sword. In all of this, it was thought that the Federal Government would take action against the lawless MACBAN. But that was not to be. Instead, government gave itself away as being complicit in the criminal indulgences of Miyetti Allah. Outraged by all this, Ortom has stopped at nothing to say it as it is. He is disappointed that the Buhari he thought would save the day has become ensconced in the politics of tribe.
Unlike the coward who will not speak up in the face of oppression, Ortom has been washing the Presidency with bitter truths. Whereas some others in his shoes would paper over the outrageous silence of the conspirators at the centre, Ortom has taken them on with boldness and courage. He has refused to be constrained by public office, which provides most people a convenient alibi for indolence. He recognizes, instead, that it will be the height of betrayal for him to pretend as if all is well with his people. Unlike the sycophant who will stop at nothing to gain advantage from the powers that be at the expense of his people, Ortom has been charging at the Buhari presidency for its complicit disposition towards the brutal overreach of killer herdsmen who have been terrorizing the country. Certainly, Benue is not the only state where the armed herder is freely spilling blood, but Ortom remains the only affected governor who has told the bitter truth to the authorities in Abuja.
Ordinarily, Ortom’s forthrightness ought to be admired and emulated by the less courageous ones. Regrettably, he is being derided and harangued in some quarters for his candidness. Sycophants are freely throwing jibes at him in order to gain advantage before President Buhari. A ready example is Senator George Akume, a former governor of Benue State, who now serves as minister in the Muhammadu Buhari government. Akume has called on Buhari to declare a state of emergency in Benue State because, according to him, Ortom has failed to fight insecurity. Akume was also angry with Ortom for speaking truth to power. For Akume, Ortom insulted the President and should apologize to (the President). That is the bone of contention at the moment.
Since Akume sought to indict Ortom for alleged failure to fight insecurity, many Nigerians have not stopped laughing. They are asking who, between Ortom and Buhari, should be accused of non-performance in the area of security management. Nigerians find Akume’s intervention in this matter very pitiable. They believe that the man just woke up from a deep slumber. Where has this man been, they seem to be asking. The people’s embarrassment by the Akume interjection is accentuated by the fact that the man is from Benue State. In fact, he was the former governor of the state. This being the case, Akume ought to feel the pain of his people. But now he seems to be giving the impression that he has been on exile. Who woke this man up from many years of moroseness? We need to pity this absent-minded former governor.
Now that Akume is awake, someone needs to remind him that the ongoing distemper in his home state of Benue is not about Ortom. The governor is trying to save his people, including Akume. Ortom will play his part and leave. The likes of Akume should be concerned about what will become of their state if the current efforts of Ortom are not sustained.
The battle against the rampaging armed Fulani terrorist is not about Benue State alone. All southern and Middle Belt states are as concerned. That is why the ban on open grazing has become the way to go. Maybe Akume, like some myopic southern politicians who do not see beyond their nose, are associating the action of the governors on open grazing with politics. The Akumes of this world must broaden their horizon in this matter. When they do, they will realize that the unsettled state of the nation has nothing to do with political advantage. Instead, the sections of the country that are at the receiving end of the nepotistic order in the country are fighting the battle of survival. To succeed, they must distinguish between the true state of the nation and the fancies and politics of the moment.