The immediate past governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom, on Sunday advised his successor, Governor Hyacinth Alia, to stop playing game but adopt the security roadmap that President Bola Tinubu personally crafted for him.
Ortom stated this in a statement issued by his media aide, Terver Akase, and made available to journalists in Makurdi.
The former governor was reacting to Alia who made reference to his administration while responding to the interview the member of the House of Representatives from Makurdi/Guma federal constituency, Dickson Tarkighir gave on television at the weekend.
Alia through his media aide, Kula Tersoo had claimed,”Under Ortom’s watch, Benue State recorded the highest number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in its history, with over 4 million people displaced from their ancestral homes.
“This figure underscores the failure of reactive rhetoric without strategic support for security architecture.”
While putting the record straight, the former governor said that the same data of 1.5 million IDPs handed to Governor Alia in 2023 remains the data he continued to use to date.
Ortom advised his predecessor and his team to stop playing games with the insecurity situation confronting the state, saying, “People are being killed like animals by armed herders.”
The statement partly read,”Trying to minimise the magnitude of the attacks by concealing casualty figures, the number of displaced persons, and making the attacks appear as mere communal clashes or skirmishes will not help solve the problem.
“Since the killing of innocent Benue people by armed herders intensified under Alia, the governor has peddled varying narratives regarding the attacks.
“At one point, he says those on a killing spree in the state are foreigners and not Nigerians.
” At another instance, he claims the killings are reprisals because, according to him, Benue people rustled Fulani cows and were selling in wheelbarrows.
” In yet another case, the governor blames those he brands as ‘Abuja politicians’ as sponsors of the killings. His latest accusation was against clergymen in the state, whom he tagged as ‘religious bandits.’
” This clearly indicates that the governor either has no clue about what the security situation is or is deliberately trying to mislead the public.
“I advise Governor Alia to adopt the security roadmap that President Bola Tinubu personally crafted for him when the president visited the state.
“It has been five days since the President visited and made very useful recommendations on addressing insecurity in the state, but the governor has apparently yet to begin implementing any of the recommendations.”
Ortom also recommended that to fight the insecurity ravaging parts of Benue State, the governor should allow the 23 local governments to take control of their resources to enable them to effectively mobilise security in their domains and also provide development for their people.
“Fortunately, allocations to the local governments, similar to those of the state government, have increased by 400% since fuel subsidy was removed by Mr President in 2023 and the Supreme Court gave a landmark judgment granting full financial autonomy for local governments.
” The governor should obey the Supreme Court judgment and let the councils run their affairs.
“The 23 local governments have been lamenting; the Benue State House of Assembly has also passed resolutions repeatedly urging Governor Alia to allow local governments control their resources, but sadly, all such pleas and interventions have fallen on deaf ears,” Ortom said.
