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From Rose Ejembi, Makurdi
On Monday during a press conference at the Government House in Makurdi, Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State insisted that President Muhammadu Buhari does not have the capacity to lead the country anymore and so, should hand over honourably to his Vice. He also warned the EFCC Chairman not to allow himself to be used to witch-hunt perceived enemies. Ortom spoke on other salient national issues.
You are one of the very loud critics of the present Federal Government, what is your rationale?
My rationale is simple; whatever I try to do, I do out of patriotism, and to ensure equity, fairness and justice for all citizens of Benue State and the people of this country in general. I mean very well for this country and I remain very committed to the unity, progress and development of our country Nigeria because I have no country anywhere. I do not have residence in any part of the world other than Nigeria. I have no property in any part of the world and I challenge anyone to confirm this. And I have no intentions to do so. I will remain here until the day God will call me back home.
All my investments throughout my life are here in Nigeria. So, whatever I say or do about happenings in the country is out of patriotism and concern about the plight of the people of Benue State and Nigerians. I have been in government for a very long time. I was a Local Government Chairman from 1991 to 1993. And I have been there at the state level and at the federal level and today I’m back at the state as governor. So, when I see something that is wrong instead of keeping quiet, and since I do not want to be complicit to the evil that is going on in our country today, I have to speak out. That is why I will continue to say that the All Progressives Congress, APC -led Federal Government has completely failed in their promises. Also, the leader of the party and leader of our country, President Buhari has completely failed to fulfill the promises that he gave to Nigerians.
But you were one of those who worked for the victory of President Buhari in 2015. What has gone wrong between then and now?
I was part of those who worked for the election of President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015; we worked hard for him based on the promise that he gave us. He assured that he would be a President for everybody and for nobody. But today we have seen clearly that the President is a President for Fulani people and everybody has seen this because of the level of nepotism in the country. Since the inception of our country Nigeria even before the independence, we have never witnessed this kind of nepotism that is going on in our country. We have never witnessed this level of disunity in our country. We have never seen this level of insecurity and we have never seen this kind of economic downturn the way we have it today. Those who are keeping quiet in the face of what is happening will also not be spared because one day the Nigerian people will not allow you to ride in your air conditioned vehicles. I am a grassroots person, so I appreciate the feelings of the people out there. I feel so sad and I also pity the President of our country because those surrounding him are deceiving him and he is not aware of the plight of our people. It calls for prayers and as we pray, we must arise and make the President understand that things are not going well in our country. The basic responsibility of any government we were told, is the provision of security for lives and property. The level of insecurity in the country today is worrisome
Those people who are complacent and living in their comfort zones without looking at the reality of what is happing in our country today should have a rethink.
Benue is said to be grappling with a huge IDPs challenge and there have been recent reported cases of fresh herdsmen attacks in the state. What is your government doing to stem the crisis?
It is really unfortunate that I have over 1.5million IDPs in Benue State out of the projected seven million population that I have in the state; and more than 80 percent of the IDPs are farmers that earned us the appellation as the food basket of the nation. Today, they are in IDPs camps suffering. As if that is not enough, everyday you wake up to the news that Fulani, with the consent of the Federal Government have decided to make life unbearable for my people in Benue State. It is unfortunate but we will take action in our own way. I have consulted with my people and they have told me what we are supposed to do and we are going to take decisive action because enough is enough. We have cried enough. After this, I will not tell anybody about how many Benue people have been killed by the terrorists in any of our Local Governments again but we will take steps to stop the killings. We will complement the security agencies but we are not going to compromise our peace and security again, this is enough.
How can we allow this in our country with this level of impunity by the APC-led Federal Government? How can they allow these Fulani herdsmen to come and murder, kill and rape our women and children. I hear of what they also do in other states. Sometimes, what they do in those states are more than what they do in my state but I’m concerned about my state. My kinsmen have not been spared. The people that are in 18 Local Government Areas of the state cry everyday of the murderous activities of the terrorist Fulani herdsmen that kill them and flee away. I recall that I had alerted this country long time ago in 2016. I brought publications that the Fulani nationalities came together and resolved to kill, rape, maim, destroy and chase people away from their ancestral homes and take over the land and make Nigeria their country. This is what they are currently prosecuting. And people are saying nothing will happen; but it is already happening.
The 1.5 million IDPs in Benue have been chased away from their ancestral homes and the terrorists have taken over their communities. The security people have done their best. From 2017 to date, more than 100 security personnel have been killed by these terrorists Fulani herdsmen. So, that shows the commitment of the security agencies in ensuring that we have peace. But truly they are completely overwhelmed with what is happening. They cannot be everywhere, they do not have the capacity in terms of funding, in terms of equipment and even in terms of training. So, it becomes a very difficult task, but they have been doing their best but I admit that they are grossly inadequate.
What will then be your advice to the Federal Government on how to tackle the challenge?
The Federal Government has completely failed, no doubt; and I want to call on our President, Muhammadu Buhari to accept the fact that he has failed this country and I want to advise him to honorably resign as President of Nigeria. He can resign and hand over to his Vice to handle the affairs of this country. Otherwise, this country is going down. No wonder, some time ago I saw a video clip where the President promised Nigerians that his APC government was going to take Nigeria from the top to bottom. He said it three times and today we are already at the bottom. And today if nothing is done, if the President does not rise up to the responsibility of taking this country out of the bottom to the top, we are going underneath. Those who are keeping quiet should continue, but I have said my beat, whether they take it or not. They can insult me and also send the EFCC after me and declare all the things we do right as wrong. But I have nothing to hide. If you come after me, I will approach the courts because I have nothing to hide. I will always stand for truth, equity, fairness and justice and that is all.
Don’t you think you are being too hard on the President?
This country belongs to all of us. It is not about a Fulani President or President Buhari. We have had Fulani Presidents who I adjudged as the best we have ever had. We had President Shagari, a Fulani man from the caliphate. He was a good leader who reached out to people and did very well. He provided security for lives and property. We had President Yar’adua a Fulani man from Katsina State. He did very well and till tomorrow, nobody has provided the solution to the Niger Delta crisis more than President Yar’Adua, a Fulani man.
So, the issue today is about incompetence. It is about non-performance, it is about barefooted leadership, it is about lame-duck, it is about somebody without a vision and direction to lead our country. So, I call on President Muhammadu Buhari to resign. If he wants APC to continue, he should hand over to his Vice to take it up from there.
But there are people who believe that the President is the best thing that has happened to this country. Don’t you see reason in their judgement?
Anybody who is deceiving President Buhari that he has performed well is a liar. Our President, you have not performed well. Your anti corruption fight is against perceived enemies. Nigeria has never borrowed in the manner you have borrowed. This is a complete shame. But I know that they will insult me and say all kinds of things and falsehood against me, but I will continue to say the truth because the Bible says you shall know the truth and the truth will set you free. I will continue to say the truth even despite the threat to my life. The truth is that nobody should deceive President Buhari that he has performed well because he has failed.
We are disappointed. I voted him in 2015 and because I saw that he was being misled by people around him, I decided to come back to my party, the PDP. So, nobody should deceive you, Nigerians are suffering. And some people are even ready to commit suicide and some are committing suicide because life has become unbearable. Yet people are praising him and praising him, giving him the impression that he could use the stem of a banana tree to make the handle of a hoe. How possible can that be. It is impossible. I must let the President know that because of the so much borrowed money, there are some little value addition on roads as we can see. But I went to Gboko last weekend and I saw the patching of the road but as I was coming back, the patched portions gave way. So, Mr. President will need to call Nigerians together and work with them to ensure that we do the needful to help our country.
The opposition are also accusing your government of non-performance. What is your response to that?
People can say whatever they want but we have been making milestones in all sectors of the economy in Benue State based on what we have. On the issue of the counterpart funding of the Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs, we have played our roles and you can see it. Today, the 42 comprehensive healthcare centres we have set up alongside the SDGs are there. The recently commissioned 120-bed Mother and Child Hospital was a partnership, the Federal Government played their role and we also did. That is why we have it today. The opening up of state roads, construction of schools, electricity and water projects and several other projects that we are doing that are meant to add value. We are making this progress despite the consistent Fulani herdsmen invasions including some local banditry that we have been battling with which shows clearly that we have been working hard.
We have never left issues of security without attending to it. We are aware that we have some local security issues, communal clashes and all that but the one that has created problems for us and led to the IDPs situation we have today is the Fulani terrorist attacks on our various communities. We condemn this and we want to still ask the Federal Government to rise up to its responsibilities. They have the coercive forces, they have the security apparatus and they should be able to do something to safeguard the lives and properties of the people from these terrorists Fulani men.
How much support are you getting from the Federal Government to tackle the challenge?
You will recall that more than three years ago, the Vice President was here and we went together to visit the IDPs. And till date, the N10billion rehabilitation money that was promised to Benue and other states has not gotten to us. Also, the rate of out of school children is a dangerous trend. For all of us in government and the larger community, it is something that we must be prayerful about and take action to ensure that we redeem ourselves out of this. Meanwhile, you can see the so called hypocritical support and attention that the Federal Government gives to issues of Benue State compared to how they are doing it in other states of the federation. They are giving attention to other states who have similar problems of IDPs but here when they even make attempt to reach out to us, it is laughable. I do not want to continue to talk about this but it is really unfortunate that the Federal Government will talk about less than a trailer load of food and non food materials to over 1.5million IDPs. And deliberately at their level, they have ensured that donor agencies attend to other states other than Benue State and that they do not come here so that we can access help and assistance. Every time they will tell you that they are not aware that people are being killed here. I don’t want Nigerians to lose fate in what is called government or governance. It is just that we made a mistake in 2015 but by the grace of God, the PDP is ready to rescue our country and rebuild it again, and take it from bottom to top. It won’t be the promise of taking us from top to bottom they made and we did not pay attention when they were making that promise. But the PDP Government will take Nigerians from bottom to the top so that we can regain our image.
After the recent court ruling that sacked the Ebonyi State Governor and his Deputy, there are reports that the APC has listed Benue as one of the states to be dragged before the courts. What’s your take on that?
I did not know that some people are completely ignorant about the laws of this country. And I want to advise all learned people to try to read the constitution of our country and know what the provisions hold for us as individuals, as a state and as a country. There are certain things that you do not need to worry yourself about. How can somebody say the case in Ebonyi will affect Samuel Ortom who decamped to PDP before the 2019 election? Before the 2005 election I was in PDP but I left for APC and I won the election under the APC. But because of this their non performance and lame duck activities, I decided to come back to PDP. If they had taken me to court that time, maybe they would have gotten me. But now they cannot get me. I left the APC observing due process and contested election on the platform of PDP and won my election. My certificate (of return) is bearing Samuel Ortom of PDP. I do not need to be a lawyer to understand that nobody can talk about my mandate. The Ebonyi case is different from me altogether. He contested election on the platform of PDP, his certificate bears PDP and he now went to APC. That was why the court, in its wisdom gave that order. Those of you who listened to the news few days ago must have heard that one of the governors in a South south state who was elected on the platform of the PDP said he did not leave PDP but only decamped to the APC and that he is not a registered member of APC. It is a shame to hear such from a governor who took oath of office to be guided by the provisions of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and ensure justice, equity and fairness. My brother, do you go to church or mosque? You come and lie to Nigerians. And those are the things we are saying. How can somebody say that? That he only decamped but not a registered member of the APC, you’re still a member of the PDP. PDP has already issued a statement that the man is not our member. So, he must answer those things before a competent court of law. It is laughable.
The APC is currently enmeshed in crisis while the PDP seems to be enjoying some level of stability. What is the ruling party not getting right?
Well, recently the President was trying to solve the protracted problem of organizing a common convention for the party (APC). It’s funny. But you would recall that when the PDP gave the date for its convention, we went ahead and did it. Yes, we had some challenges but we went ahead and did it. How many times has the APC postponed its national convention? Even the one they said they are holding on March 26th is still in doubt. I read somewhere today that somebody secured a judgement that the convention should not take place. I want our people in the PDP to move on. God has given us victory in 2023 on a platter of gold. Because, tell me, people who are not able to conduct common convention, how can they make it in nominating candidate that will fly their flag? I’m really disappointed. And that is why I am calling on President Muhammadu Buhari to resign. The capacity is not there to lead and help us make things work to salvage the hardship that Nigerians are going through. I call on him to resign. Can the president reflect back, in 2015 when he took over, where was Nigeria and where is Nigeria today? Security? We all heard about Boko Haram, that people were coming from foreign land to encroach on Borno State and all that. We never knew what was banditry. We never knew what was terrorism in this part of our state and elsewhere apart from what was happening in the North East. Today, see where we are. Can the President tell us how much was a Dollar to a Naira when he took over? If he doesn’t know, I will tell him that we were at N180 to a Dollar when he took over. Today, how much is it? Over N580. That alone should tell the President that we have a challenge in this country. How much was a bag of rice when he took over? How much was a bag of fertilizer? How much was a bag of salt? How much was a bag of sugar? Were people not traveling from Lagos to Makurdi and from Makurdi to Port Harcourt, to Enugu, to Owerri, to Kano? Can anybody travel today without the support of the security men and come back safely? Our villages are being razed and destroyed. Our children and women are being raped. Women will always be shy and they will not come out and tell you their experience with these evil people called Fulani terrorists. Even men are not spared as they do homosexuality with them. They catch men and practice homosexuality with them. What kind of a country are we in?Yet the Federal Government is defending that the Fulani man must have AK47 to protect himself. How about the killings in Guma, my own ancestral home? Did they come with any cow? People are sleeping in their houses and you come and kill them. And as if that is not enough, you shoot them with your AK47, and when they are dead, you still go further to butcher them like animals. And you want Ortom to keep quiet? I will not keep quiet. At least, on that one I will talk. But I will not also reveal our strategy. But I tell you that enough is enough. You die once. It’s only a fool that dies 20 times before his actual death. I am not a fool and Benue people are not fools. So, it is unacceptable. We are going to defend ourselves. And I will take the lead to ensure that we defend ourselves. Enough is enough. You bring in AK47 which the Federal Government conceded and allowed you to carry, but here in Benue State, when you have ordinary cutlass as a farmer, you are arrested for carrying a weapon. But Fulani man will carry AK47 and you will allow them. This is not acceptable. So, it’s a shame to talk about our President who should be a President of all talking about PDP in his recent statement saying, “look at the once powerful and main opposition PDP, now and learn lessons in the disunity, mismanagement and corruption.” We have never seen mismanagement of our common wealth in the manner that the APC from 2015 to date has done. Look at corruption, it’s only in APC that their National Chairman said once you defect, your sins are forgiven. All these troubles I’m having with EFCC, if I were the type that can be intimidated to defect, the day that I leave PDP to APC, no EFCC will come to Benue State again.
On that basis, what will be your advice to the EFCC Chairman?
I will advise my son who is the EFCC Chairman, that he has a long way to go. He should not destroy himself. Don’t allow politicians use you. I’ve never met him but I’m advising him through this medium to do the right thing and be on the righteous side of God. God will help you. You will not remain there forever. We have heard about famous Ribadu who was Chairman of EFCC, he left. We heard about our own daughter, Mrs. Waziri, she left. We heard about Magu and I warned Magu before when he was trying to use politics on me. I told him that look, one day you will not be there. And I am still warning the current EFCC Chairman to do the right thing because one day, he will not be there again. If Ortom of Benue State has committed any crime, you can come and I am ready to support you, even if it is about me. But don’t witch-hunt me based on the instructions you received from the Villa in Abuja. My God will fight against you if you do that. That I can assure you. Don’t seek to disgrace other people because you have been told to undermine, to malign, to intimidate or blackmail other people. This is not right.
What’s your take on the corruption fight of the President Buhari-led government?
This government of President Muhammadu Buhari led APC should never talk about corruption. I’m aware of people right from the Villa, including his ministers, that have corruption cases. It is just that they are being protected by the Villa itself. This is not acceptable. This country belongs to all of us. We must fight corruption together, we must fight insecurity together. We must fight all the evils that are befalling us together. And I have demonstrated this in my own little way here in Benue State. I have always promoted the unity of our country Nigeria. So, nobody should be deceived, this country belongs to all us of. Buhari should not use corruption to try to blackmail or intimidate people on his failures.
What is the way forward?
This government has completely failed, and the President should accept this fact and call all of us irrespective of party affiliation and irrespective of religion. He should ask us to tell him the truth of what is happening. If he is willing to take our advice, he will get back on track. We are ready to team up and work with him. On security, I have severally talked about security summit. I’m not just criticising but I’m also providing solutions to the problems that we have. If you call us to a security summit and you are sincere, we shall advise you and we shall put heads together and come out with solutions if you are willing to accept that you are leading a country that has multiple nationalities; over 250 of them. And you are willing to find a win win situation, we are willing to offer those advice. If you’re willing to listen to some of us from the organized private sector, we are ready to advise you that no country survives without the private sector. Check round the world; Asia, America, Europe, Australia and elsewhere. It is the private sector that drives the economy, that adds value, that makes things work while government regulates and provides the enabling environment. Government provides policies for the private sector, government and everyone to operate and then, things work out well. So, we have the capacity. I know about some governors who are technocrats and are well versed. I know about various technical people with the capacity to make things work in Benue State here. If they are given opportunity they will come out with solutions that will help and the private sector will come out with solutions that will provide millions upon millions of jobs that will take our children off the streets and there will be peace. But just sitting in the villa and listening to barefooted people who don’t have the interest of the country at heart will not help us. We must come together and work. Nobody knows it all. Nobody alone will have the capacity. It will require all of us to come out and look at those areas that we need to work on. And lastly to say that the agitation by very prominent Nigerians and elder statesmen about restructuring must not be ignored. It’s long overdue and the President must give heed. If you’re not willing to dust the recommendations of the former President Goodluck Jonathan’s National Conference, initiate your own and call Nigerians together irrespective of their party affiliations to discuss. Otherwise, President Buhari and the APC have really taken the country from top to bottom but some of us are determined that we will take it from bottom to top.
