Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom has lashed out at Bauchi State Governor, Senator Bala Mohammed, saying he was disappointed by the comments made by him.
Bala Mohammed had, in response to Ortom’s position warning that Nigeria could be urged into a civil way by the activities of Fulani herdsmen, blamed him (Ortom) for what he termed “negative perception of Fulani herders”.
Governor Ortom in a statement on Friday said while he would not want to join issues with his counterpart, he found it shocking that a colleague who took the oath of office as he also did, to protect and preserve the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, “now takes the lead in violating provisions of the same constitution by calling for lawlessness.”
According to Ortom, the most shocking part of Governor Bala Mohammed’s statement was where he defended herdsmen for bearing arms saying “they have no option than to carry AK47 because the society and the government are not protecting them.”
The Benue governor questioned the section of the law the Bauchi governor cited to support herdsmen’s free movement around the country with sophisticated weapons.
“It was the same Governor Mohammed who once said on national television that a Fulani man is a global citizen and therefore does not need a visa to come to Nigeria and that the forests belong to herdsmen,” Ortom stated as he shredded Bala Mohammed’s treatise.
Governor Ortom wondered if Gov. Mohammed had a good knowledge of the horrendous activities of herders in parts of the country, arguing that if the Bauchi governor had the facts then he would not continue to put up emotional defences and justifications in favour of the armed herdsmen.
Alluding to Governor Bala Mohammed’s comment that there were Benue people who were freely doing business in Bauchi and elsewhere, Ortom stated that Benue indigenes in Bauchi had been law-abiding and did not carry arms to attack their hosts.
He noted that “Fulani, as well as many other Nigerians, residing in Benue who respect laws of the land, also live peacefully with their hosts.:
Governor Ortom insisted that his administration had not driven away any law-abiding Nigerian in Benue State.
According to the governor, it was unfortunate that those who were trusted with the people’s mandate and should ordinarily uphold truth and justice had chosen to mislead the country.
He stressed the need for “leaders to be cautious and retrace their steps which are capable of leading the country to anarchy.”
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