Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State, on Monday, declared
that some apologists of President Muhammadu Buhari are sponsoring media attacks
against him.
Ortom made the claim while noting that the President’s
apologists were sponsoring attacks against him because he refused to be silent
over the killings perpetrated by armed herders in the State.
The Governor explained that it would be dangerous to be
silent while people of the State were being killed, hence he would keep
speaking the truth to those in power.
The Governor, who spoke through his Principal Special
Assistant on Media, Nathaniel Ikyur, insisted that he would never be silent
despite media attacks sponsored against him by enemies of the State.
Ortom lamented that killer herders have seriously attacked,
killed and raped people of the State.
A statement by Ikyur reads: “The Reverend Martin Luther
King, Jr is quoted to have made this profound statement: “Our lives begin to
end the day we become silent about things that matter.” This has been the
mindset of Samuel Ortom since he was elected the 5th democratic Governor of Benue
State in 2015. Till date, he has maintained that position: seeking to do only
that which is for the good of the people of the state who elected him. That’s
why he speaks truth to power. He believes keeping mute when scores of Benue
people are hacked to death will be too dangerous. Understandably, his position
on any issue has never been popular from the onset. But with time, it gains
ascendancy and acceptance.
“Benue has been badly hit by herdsmen attacks. Scores have
been killed and many wounded irredeemably while others have their ancestral
lands taken away. Some of our mothers and daughters have been raped and maimed
by the gang of killers. Governor Ortom has made several representations to the
Presidency for the arrest of the leadership of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore who
have vowed to ensure that blood flows in Benue because the state enacted a law
against open grazing.
“Sadly, there is an upsurge now among willing Benue State
indigenes who are ready to lead a smear campaign against Governor Samuel Ortom
and get paid for discrediting him for standing by his people. These are the
recruits into the antagonist camp against the Ortom administration. They are
promised handouts from the centre so they don’t care whether their state burns.
I call them the sons of Iscariot. They would rather swim in the blood of their
hapless relations who are being slaughtered by agents of death, the Fulani
herdsmen. They are now concocting all manner of tales to sell their wares for
the peanuts they’ve been promised.
“The other day, it was the one-man ‘Benue Patriotic Front’
of Dan Morgan-Ihomun. This time, one Comrade Timothy Tor, whose real identity
seems to be hidden behind some political weaklings whose past and present
records are in shambles. They come under the faceless ‘Benue Proactive
Coalition for Good Governance.’ Their voices are only heard now just to please
their paymasters. If I may ask, where were they when Fulani herdsmen attacked
and killed thousands of Benue people and destroyed communities? Why were their
voices not heard then?
“Governor Ortom was elected to lead the people of the state.
He speaks to clear doubts about where his allegiance lies. And so why is
‘Comrade Tor’ so bothered about what the Governor has been saying to the
President? For goodness’ sake, President Buhari is the Commander in Chief of
the Nigerian Armed Forces? The President appoints all the service chiefs. As
such, they are his appointees and not those of the Governors. No wonder,
President Muhammadu Buhari singled Governor Ortom out during his interview with
Arise Television. Or could this fictional groups be said to be the handiwork of
Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore?
“If the faceless group is convinced that Governor Ortom does
not speak the minds of Benue people who elected him, let the group come to the
state and address the people. The reaction they will get from the people will
clear their doubts. Why do they sit in Abuja to criticize the Benue State
Governor?
“In any case, is there any true Benue citizen who does not
appreciate the positive impact of the Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches
Establishment Law on the state of insecurity in Benue? If there is such a man,
then surely, the man or woman is not worth his salt. It is therefore surprising
that someone could deliberately evade the truth just to foster mischief and
earn crumbs while his people are been killed and displaced from their ancestral
lands. As we speak, the Nigerian diasporan communities applauds the Governor as
a pacesetter. They’re not blinded by the political nuances around here.
“It is a fact that the instrumentality of the law and
personal commitment to the safety of the people and peace in the state by the
Governor have entrenched relative stability and tranquility. If any Benue man
or woman discountenances this, such a person is living in self denial.
“Comrade Tor’, the self-styled ‘Benue Proactive Coalition
for Good Governance’ advocate and his masters are dumb on the realities of what
is threatening the foundation of this country. They talk loosely from one end
to the other on issues they’re lacking in understanding.
“For instance, this hireling and those behind him do not
understand that the Benue Amnesty Programme under Governor Ortom that made late
Terwase Akwaza, aka Gana and his group to surrender in the first place was
tailored along the template of what late President Umaru Yar’Adua did to the
Niger Delta militants in 2009. Yar’Adua offered unconditional pardon to the
militants and cash payments to the rebels who agreed to lay down their arms
because it also restored oil production in the zone which had witnessed
sabotage, oil siphoning rackets and kidnappings by criminal gangs. So, engaging
Gana in the first place wasn’t a strange decision.
“From January 2018 to date, Benue State has no issues in
payment of salaries. Arrears are owed to civil servants at the end of 2017 as a
result of the recession Nigeria went into. Benue with a wage bill of over N3
billion at that time, received less than N1.5 billion from the federation’s
account for some months. This made the full payment of salaries impossible.
Interestingly, in Benue State, all segments of the labour unions are part of
the joint account committees that sit over these funds. Indeed, pensions are
being owed but efforts are ongoing to clear the backlog. The PENCOM Act has
been domesticated to create the legal framework to address this issue.
“Governor Zulum of Borno State may be doing well in his own
right but so too, is Governor Ortom. Much has been accomplished in various
sectors like education where reconstruction, rehabilitation of classroom blocks
in primary and secondary schools has taken place. Tertiary institutions have
also received a boost. The health sector, rural infrastructures, works, housing
security and many more have received tremendous attention by the Ortom
administration. It is therefore, cheap blackmail and outright falsehood when
political jobbers indulge in flippancy and shameless lies that the Governor has
not developed the state.
“It is more important that the sponsors of these malicious
publications in the media who are clearly political apologists to the
President, advise the Presidency to fulfil its numerous campaign promises of
tackling insecurity, corruption and the economy. Using Governor Samuel Ortom as
a scapegoat can not wish away the burden of performance regarding the promises
made.
“Lastly, we want to throw this challenge once more to the
group and others like it. They should come to Benue and test their popularity
against Governor Ortom. Let’s see if what they were told is real or imagined.
For now, the Governor has work to do and he is diligently pursuing the mandate
with vigour. He has no time for sponsored distractions and blackmail.
“Enemies of Benue have always stood on Governor Ortom’s way
but he always triumphs!”
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