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From Scholastica Onyeka, Makurdi
One week to the general elections, Benue State governor, Samuel Ortom, has urged all Nigerians to eschew abusive and violent tendencies and allow the electoral process to pass on seamlessly.
The governor stated this yesterday while addressing graduates of the Benue State University (BSU), Makurdi at the 18th, 19th, 20th and 21st combined convocation ceremonies in Makurdi.
“Let us shame our detractors that we can conduct free, fair, and credible elections in Nigeria. I hereby, humbly request that you all go out and perform your civic responsibilities as obedient citizens of the state.
“It will be a shame to hear that we willingly desire to perish as if we lack knowledge. I humbly leave us will the words in the Holy Book (the Bible); Isaiah 1:19 ‘If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land.’ Not my words, but God Almighty is the one who spoke, is speaking and shall continue to speak. The choice is ours,” he preached.
The governor said that the denial of education was largely responsible for the 80 per cent of the challenges the country was facing.
“Whether it is the herder-terrorist attack on farming communities, banditry, or Boko Haram. There is no gainsaying that education remains the all-time solution to the myriad of challenges facing mankind,” he said.
Ortom urged the graduands to be great ambassadors of the university and let the light of the knowledge they had acquired brighten their road as they navigate their way around their career paths and service to humanity.
Speaking, the Vice Chancellor of BSU, Prof Joe Tor Iorapuu, told the governor that the school needed more hostels among other infrastructure, appealing that he makes a commitment in that regard before his tenure expires.
Iorapuu appreciated the governor for placing the institution on first line charge, stressing that he ensured that staff of the university were paid before other workers in the state receive their salaries.
He also thanked Senator Gabriel Suswam for providing 80 stands of solar street lights to the school.
The institution’s Chancellor, the Paramount Ruler of Abonnema Kingdom in Rivers State, Disrael Gbobo Bob-Manuel II, said that the institution had made history in his life by appointing him the chancellor of the university and promised to use his office for the development of the university.
He also commended Ortom for the interest he had shown in the university just as he urged the institution to keep up the good work.
The university conferred honorary awards to distinguished Nigerians, including Pastor Paul Enenche of Dunamis Gospel International Church, Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, among others.
