Former Governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom, has dismissed claims that he hated the late ex-President Muhammadu Buhari, stating that he only criticised his government for not doing enough to address the security challenges in his state at the time.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Monday, Ortom defended his actions, saying he had to speak out to protect his people.
“I didn’t hate Buhari, I didn’t hate his government, I didn’t hate any Fulani man. All I was standing for was that I was elected to provide security and provide for the welfare of my own people,” Ortom said on the political programme.
“I was just doing my job, and I did accuse the last government for not doing enough to curb the security challenges that we had.
“I couldn’t just watch and continue to bury people, and I had to voice out but I did not stop at that. My government was able to provide a solution that, in our thought, we felt would solve this problem.”
The former governor said the insecurity problem still persisting in Benue State today wouldn’t have existed if the Buhari administration had cooperated with him and adopted the solution he proposed to end it.
Ortom said he was frustrated under the Buhari administration and raised the alarm several times, stating that the Ruga ranching programme and similar ones proposed by the government to end the problem were merely a camouflage.
Ortom insisted that there is no such thing as a herders-farmers crisis in Nigeria, saying that, instead, the intruding herders storm villages to kill, destroy farms, rape women, and commit other atrocities.
