Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue state has said
he has no regrets for his actions and owes
nobody any apologies for the decisions he has
taken, noting that he knows why Atiku Abubakar
and Miyetti Allah were angry with him.
The added that the Miyetti Allah and the
presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic
Party, PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, are profiling
him for standing up for Benue people, assuring
that he would defend the people with the last
pint of his blood.
Governor Ortom, who spoke Tuesday when he
hosted a delegation from The Church of Jesus
Christ of Later-Day Saints in Makurdi, said he
was being blackmailed by Miyetti Allah and the
presidential candidate of his party for standing
for the truth.
Accusation
Recall that a Fulani socio-cultural association,
Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, had in a communique
at the end of its expanded National Executive
Committee (NEC) and State Chairmen meeting
held Monday in Abuja and jointly signed by
Alhaji Abdullahi Bodejo (National President) and
Engr. Saleh Alhassan (National Secretary) accused
the governor of profiling Fulani.
Part of that communique read: “The meeting
condemned the continuous profiling of Fulani
pastoralists by the beleaguered Governor of
Benue Samuel Ortom through his satanic anti-
grazing law that he has been using to officially
confisticate and auction millions of cattle
belonging to Fulani in Benue-Nasarawa, Benue,
and Benue-Taraba boarder communities.”
But in a swift reaction the governor recalled that
“in 2017 when we were attacked by normadic
armed Fulani herdsmen from Chad, Niger, Libya,
Senegal and other countries, who decided that
they would come and take over Nigeria and make
it their own country, we cried loud and also
decided to put in place policies that would
safeguard our people.
“That was why we enacted the law prohibiting
open grazing because ranching remains the
global best practice for animal husbandry.
“And we insisted that the law must be respected
by everybody whether you are a Fulani man or
wherever you come from.
The agenda
“But because the agenda was to take over and
occupy our land, they are very angry with me.
They have taken the Benue State government to
court twice and we defeated them because we
have a law in place.
“And today you hear blackmail from Atiku
Abubakar who is the presidential candidate of my
party, you hear blackmail from Miyetti Allah
saying that I have profiled Fulani.
“But I have always qualified the type of Fulani
that I am profiling; and they are responsible and
they have also not denied it.
“They have come to accept and agree that they
are responsible for the killings in Benue.
“I have lost over 5,000 people in Benue state from
2011 till date. And more than 120 security men
have lost their lives in the state in the course of
trying to maintain law and order and keep peace
for Benue state.
“And then some people feel that they are above
the law, otherwise what is wrong in obeying the
open grazing prohibition law?
“I have not sent any Fulani away from Benue
State. Any Fulani man who is law abiding
remains part of us and an indigene.
“I have Fulani men in my government who are
working with me. We have not sent anyone
away.
“But one thing we have succeeded in doing is that
we have exposed the Fulanis who come from
other countries to displace our people.
“As I speak with you, we have over two million
Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, aside the over
12,000 refuges from Cameroon, that I am hosting
in Benue state.
“How do you want me to be a happy man and be
praising you, praising Fulani, for what? I will not
do it.
“With the last pint of my blood I remain
committed to serving and protecting the people
that placed me here and I am serving them as
governor.
“I have no apologies and regrets for my actions
because it is in line with the Constitution of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria and it is in line with
my teachings as a Christian.
“I believe in fairness, equity and justice. That is
what our Lord Jesus Christ thought us. We should
be fair to all and that is where I stand.
“And so I have no apologies to anybody.
Somebody can be angry with me like our
presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar,
said in Kaduna.
“But it was an agenda to profile me and set me
against the Fulani. I know the agenda. At the
appropriate time I believe that God will handle
such issues.”
“I believe that people should live peacefully
together, work together and enjoy together.”
