Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom says he didn’t say anything wrong by calling on President Muhammadu Buhari to address the nation, convene a national security summit and declare a state of emergency on security, following the spate of killings taking place in Benue and other parts of the country.
This is coming after the Presidency on Thursday expressed disappointment and sadness over Ortom’s statement on Wednesday, describing it as an attack on the person of the president.
But Ortom said in statement by his media aide, Terver Akase, on Friday that “Ortom is not the only one who is worried by the worsening security situation in the country and has called on the President to rise to his responsibilities… many other Nigerians of good conscience have at different times made similar calls. What the Governor therefore deserves is commendation and not condemnation.”
“Ortom has on several occasions raised alarm against activities of the rampaging herdsmen whose sole aim is to take over the ancestral lands of Benue people and other Nigerians. The Governor has written letters to the Federal Government and made other spirited efforts to have the government at the centre take preventive measures against further attacks on Benue communities.
“The Federal Government has repeatedly ignored such patriotic calls, insisting rather that cattle routes of the 1950s be re-opened to grant easy passage to the pastoralists and their animals.
“The posture of the Federal Government has made many Nigerians to conclude that it is complicit and its inaction has emboldened the armed herdsmen to cause greater havoc across the country.”