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From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
Benue State governor, Samuel Ortom, has described comments by the Presidency on the security situation in the state as reckless.
Ortom, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary ( CPS), Nathaniel Ikyur, on Thursday, said contrary to the position of the Presidency, he has given full support to security agencies to help curtail killer herdsmen on rampage in Benue.
The Presidency, in a statement by
the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to the President, Mallam Garba Shehu, on Wednesday, accused Ortom of politicizing the security security situation in Benue.
However, the Benue governor maintained that he has been performing his duty and state’s chief executive since his assumption of office in 2015 and would continue to discharge his duties
until May 29, 2023 when his tenure will elapse.
According to him, “for the avoidance of doubt, Governor Samuel Ortom was elected in 2015 and re-elected in 2019 to defend the interest of the people of Benue and never to be a lackey in the hands of expansionists using every means to perpetrate evil against the Benue citizens…
“If the Presidency can find it convenient to lay the blame of the massive killings that the Fulani have continued to perpetrate in Benue on Governor Ortom, what can it say of the massacre and kidnappings in Plateau, Southern Kaduna, Niger, Sokoto and President Buhari’s home state of Katsina among other states where the killing of innocent citizens has continued unchallenged?”
He added that “Benue people are well aware that Governor Ortom has been a target of the Buhari presidency since 2017 when he boldly signed a law banning open grazing of livestock in the state.
“The Governor has been subjected to many coordinated media attacks, probes, freezing of state accounts and other punitive measures to frustrate and cripple his administration.
“While other states were given infrastructural loans, Benue under Governor Ortom was denied access to the funds. The same thing happened when the Benue State Government met all requirements to secure N42 billion to clear the backlog of salaries, pensions and gratuity”.
