Presidency, Ortom in fresh war of words

Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State Saturday sparked a fresh row with the Presidency on the security challenge in the country after accusing the federal authorities of pampering gunmen terrorising Nigerians.

Ortom, speaking on BBC Pidgin, also accused the Presidency of blackmailing him each time he tries to draw attention to its shortcomings.

But the Presidency, through the same medium, dismissed the governor as an ethnic jingoist who is out to cause disunity among Nigerians.

Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, labelled Ortom a disseminator of disinformation.

Firing the first salvo on Saturday, Ortom said: “If the government has power to stop Sunday Igboho and Nnamdi Kanu, why don’t they have the power to stop bandits? All we hear is unknown gunmen.

“For me, I know it is Fulani bandits that are coming to kill us in Benue and our current leaders at Aso Rock in the presidency have a hand in all this that is happening.

“In fact, I was not the one who said it: even the Fulani bandits, they don’t want them to be addressed as Fulani; they should just be calling them bandits. But they have come out to say this government brought them in 2015. It is not something to hide.

“I’m not the one who said this alone; Obasanjo has said it too; even the Sultan. Didn’t you hear what Commodore Kunle said a few days ago?”

“The President knows what he is doing. There are good Fulani people who want the country to be at peace, but the President does not want it to happen.