Buhari Blames Ortom For Persistent Massacre In Benue.
The outgoing governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom, has been accused of being incompetent, irresponsible, stubborn, and blaming Fulanis for the massacres in the state by President Muhammadu Buhari. In a press release issued by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, Buhari defended himself against criticism from the Daily Trust and ThisDay newspapers, who he said had attempted to blame him for the security situation in Benue State. Buhari argued that Ortom’s failure to engage with the detailed, holistic approach spelled out by the Federal Government had led to the deteriorating security situation in Benue State.
Buhari listed several steps that he personally took to address the situation in Benue, which he claimed were ignored or obstructed by Ortom. These included in-person meetings with the Governor of Benue State and other community leaders, the establishment and funding of Joint Security Operations, the deployment of special security forces to flashpoints in the state, the acquisition and deployment of modern military armaments, and the provision of humanitarian support to victims via the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management, and Social Development.
Buhari Blames Ortom For Persistent Massacre In Benue
Buhari praised the people of Benue State for resoundingly rejecting Ortom and his Peoples Democratic Party in favor of a new governor, Reverend Father Hyacinth Iornem Alia from Buhari’s party, the APC. He said that the people of Benue State had suffered under Ortom’s “leadership,” experiencing first-hand the mass killings, the torture, and the litany of atrocities as Benue’s security situation plummeted ever further.
Buhari Blames Ortom For Persistent Massacre In Benue
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Buhari concluded that Ortom had arrogantly chosen his own destructive path, blaming the Fulani for every problem that arose, ignoring numerous intelligence reports passed to him for action, rejecting police findings into investigations that didn’t meet his egotistical worldview, and politicizing every life lost on his watch. He thanked the people of Benue State for rejecting Ortom so roundly at elections and said that they knew better than anyone else the true reasons for the situation in Benue.
