Ahead of the 2019 gubernatorial elections, the Benue state governor, His
\nExcellency, Dr. Samuel Ortom has reiterated his determination to defend
\nand protect the people of the state, saying the security of the people
\nremain his top priority and his administration will ensure policies that
\nwill bring lasting solutions to the perennial security challenges in the
\nstate.<\/p>\n
Governor Ortom who made this known in a recent chat with newsmen in
\nMakurdi, said his return to the People\u2019s Democratic Party (PDP) was in the
\ninterest of the people and as governor of the state, as long as he makes
\npolicies that will protect his people, he is ready to give up his life and
\nno amount of intimidation can stop him.<\/p>\n
He said his former party; the All Progressive Congress (APC) had the
\ncapacity to end killings in the state but deliberately refused to protect
\nthe people from killer herdsmen, rather, they conspired with the enemy to
\neliminate the people from their land.<\/p>\n
According to him, despite the daunting challenges and opposition he has
\nreceived for taking a stand with his people, especially on the issue of
\nthe anti-open grazing bill in the state, his administration has recorded
\nmodest achievements in the area of security, economy and value addition in
\nall sectors of the economy of the state.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn 2015 when we came in, if you ask those who were here, they will give
\nyou an account of how the security was. A lot of people were moving away
\nfrom the state and this was of great concern. There were a lot of
\nkidnappings, armed robbery, assassination and all that. We also saw that
\nthere was proliferation of arms by youths so we introduced the amnesty
\nprogramme using the carrot approach first and later applied the stick
\napproach and these yielded results. Up till today, the carrot approach has
\nyielded a lot of result as more than 900 of these youths returned their
\nvarious weapons to government and in turn, we did some compensation. We
\ntrained some, we engage some, but later, some of them went back to their
\nevil ways. But reasonably, we were able to get some of those weapons back
\nand we destroyed them. At the expiration of the carrot approach, we
\napplied the stick approach and that is still ongoing. Up till today, we
\nhave recorded huge success.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ortom who also spoke on the issue of herdsmen killings in the state said
\nit is a deliberate attempt by a group of people to take over the country
\nand make it their own so that they will continue to rule and intimidate
\nothers as second citizens in their own country. \u201cAs far as I am
\nconcerned, it is not herdsmen and farmers clash. There is more to it. Let
\nnobody deceive us that it is about rearing cattle, otherwise, if it is
\nabout rearing cattle, the submissions we brought up would have settled the
\nproblem once and for all. It is about a deliberate plan by a certain
\npeople who have decided that they will take over Nigeria. They came out
\nopenly and said it is a continuation of 1804 jihad. That they intend to
\ncomplete the assignment their forefathers could not complete and we said
\nno, we cannot allow it. If you look at all these cattle we are talking
\nabout, they are creating crises all over Nigeria, not just Benue state but
\nalso other parts of the country\u201d.<\/p>\n
While disclosing that it was in a bid to find a lasting solution to the
\nherdsmen and farmers crises that the state enacted the anti open grazing
\nlaw, Ortom said he has no regrets for creating the law because he is
\nconvinced it was the right thing to do in order to preserve and protect
\nthe people and their land despite the high cost, time and resources.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe constitution empowers states to make laws for good governance that
\ncan protect the people and so for me, I have no regret because this law
\nfollowed due process. I tell you the truth, from the comments some federal
\ngovernment agencies make on this law, you will know that they are also
\npart of Miyetti Allah because they speak as if they are agents of Miyetti
\nAllah who have continued to rain terror on our people\u201d.<\/p>\n
He further disclosed that based on the law, more than 400 herdsmen have so
\nfar been arrested with over 40 convictions while more than 20 persons are
\ncurrently in prison and the government is determined to make more arrests
\nas it is the only way to live in peace.<\/p>\n
He dismissed the claims by some persons that it was the enactment of the
\nlaw that ignited the crises, saying \u201cThose who claim that it is the law
\nthat brought crises, these crises started far before we enacted this law.
\nI inherited it when I came in. In 2011 when I was serving as a minister,
\nmy house was destroyed, my farm and everything was razed down because of
\nthese crises. There was no law then and of course how about other places
\nlike plateau state where every day they are still killing? In Kaduna,
\nAdamawa and other places even in the south nobody is spared so are there
\nlaws there\u201d?, he asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t see myself as governor when my people are being killed like
\nchickens for no just cause and I will keep quite. I know as governor of
\nBenue state, the constitution provides immunity for me. Even if I commit a
\ncrime, I cannot be arrested. I am the only one with my deputy with that
\nprovision that the constitution covers for Benue state. So if I cannot
\nspeak, who do I expect to speak especially when it concerns things that
\nare unjustly been perpetrated on my people?\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have written petitions to the IGP and other security agencies and the
\npresidency to arrest these people but up till today as I talk to you, the
\nleadership of Miyetti Allah is living in palaces in this country with
\nheavily armed security personnel protecting them and this shows the level
\nof conspiracy that we are in but as far as I am concerned, we will
\ncontinue. We have taken Miyetti Allah to court in the absence of security
\nmen arresting them. We have done everything legally and we\u2019ll continue to
\ndo so until these people are brought to book. They cannot go scout free\u201d.<\/p>\n
On the federal government\u2019s bid to diversify the economy through
\nagriculture, Ortom said time has come for people in government to shy away
\nfrom hypocrisy, lies and imbibe the habit of patriotism and ensure
\ntruthfulness in all they do. According to him, diversifying the economy
\nthrough agriculture is not achievable because anybody who is truly
\nconcerned about economic diversification through agriculture must first
\nlook at areas with comparative advantage. To him, Benue state is a state
\nwhere everything grows but has been neglected by government, rather, all
\nkinds of mercenaries are allowed to come in with their evil agenda which
\ncan never be allowed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ahead of the 2019 gubernatorial elections, the Benue state governor, His Excellency, Dr. Samuel Ortom has reiterated his determination to defend and protect the people of the state, saying the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":60664,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-64144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n