In view of the recent crises in the country involving the Fulani herdsmen and people from other parts of Nigeria, Samuel Ortom, governor of Benue state, has lent his voice to those of many others by calling the President Muhammadu Buhari to order. Ortom says President Muhammadu Buhari should take the full responsibility of insecurity in the country. He said the President should be held accountable for the mindless killings of Nigerians these past few years , claiming that the President had reneged on his promises to all Nigerians .
According to the Benue State Governor, Buhari, at his inaugural speech in 2015, when he assumed power as the president of Nigeria swore to be, for ”everybody and belong to nobody”. But this he said has not being the case as the president has shown from all intents and purposes that he is for the Fulani’s alone and not for all Nigerians.
Addressing a press conference in Makurdi on Wednesday, Ortom said nothing shows that the president is representing the interest of all Nigerians, while adding that no Benue indigene will be a ‘slave’ to any Fulani person.
Ortom berated Buhari for having failed to be ‘fair’ to all Nigerians. He added;
“You said that you will be for everybody and for nobody, and now it will appear that you are for Fulani people because nothing is coming from you to give the people confidence that you are their President.”
Ortom reminded the President “You are the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, you are not the President of Fulani.
“You are the President of everybody and I owe you a duty as a stakeholder in this nation to let you know that what is going on is wrong and this has the potential of dividing this country which will not be in the interest of anyone –some of us believe in the unity of this country.”
The governor questioned why the federal government would not allow the licensing of AK 47 rifles to all Nigerians so that Nigerians can defend themselves.
“That was why I called the Federal Government to licence me and many others to have guns, to have AK-47 too. Because if I have my AK-47 and a Fulani man is coming there, he knows that I have and he has, then we can fight each other,” he said.
“But you can’t disarm me and arm a Fulani man. This is not right, the federal government is biased, it is unfair. The failure in security is caused by the federal government.” Ortom quipped.