Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State hits back at the presidency over the recent statement issued by Presidential spokesman Garba Shehu.
In the statement issued on Wednesday night, Shehu accused Ortom of allowing the crisis in Benue to escalate.
He said the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari had taken several steps to tackle killings in Benue and more results would have been achieved if Ortom’s government showed cooperation.
But reacting through his spokesman, Nathaniel Ikyur, Ortom said the attempt to twist the killings in Benue was unfortunate and reprehensible.
He accused the Buhari government of failing to protect Benue citizens, asking if he should be blamed for killings in other states, including Katsina.
The governor added that it was on record that he repeatedly pleaded with the Buhari government to intervene in the incessant invasion of Benue State by herders militias.
He said that the president sadly, however choose to endorse the invasion and merely asked Benue people to learn to accommodate their neighbours who derive pleasure in killing and dispossesing them of their ancestral lands.
Ortom maintained that, “What the Buhari administration has done to our people through the militants as confirmed by Shehu Garba is to spit on the graves of our compatriots mowed down needlessly by militia. We shall not forget these atrocities.
He stressed that the presidency’s statement was a reckless stab by agents of genocide against the Benue people by blaming the victims, positing further that the presidency’s attempt to mock him (Ortom) over the loss of his senatorial seat and the PDP in the Governorship has furthermore strengthened the belief that the massive deployment of security personnel for the elections in the state was planned and hatched in the presidential villa and supervised by agents of the APC.”
