”You are President of Nigeria, Not Fulani” -Ortom Blast Buhari Over Farmers-Herders Crisis

Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue state has berated President Muhammadu Buhari for failing to curb the growing menace of the Fulani herdsmen across the country.

The Governor while speaking at a press conference in Makurdi on Wednesday said the president is responsible for Nigeria, not just the Fulani’s herdsmen.

According to him the President during his swearing-in ceremony in 2015 pledged his allegiance to Nigerians and not Fulani’s.

Ortom who just recovered from COVID-19 told the president to act fast insisting that no citizen is second class or servants to the Fulani tribe.

He said, “When I talk, I was being castigated, I was being vilified, nothing bad that was not said against me, I am this and that but the reality is here and it is not just happening in Benue State today, it is happening in the entire country.

“Why is the Federal Government being silent about these Fulani herdsmen? When will Federal Government come out and criticise and arrest herdsmen carrying AK-47? When are they going to do that? Are we second (-class) citizens in this country? Why (is) the Fulani men superior to a Tiv man? I am not their slave, a Benue man is not a slave to any Fulani man in this country.

“We stand for justice, equity and fairness. Whatever is happening to a Fulani man should also happen to a Tiv man. That was why I called the Federal Government to licence me and many others to have guns, to have AK-47 too. Because if I have my AK-47 and a Fulani man is coming there, he knows that I have and he has, then we can fight each other.

Ortom said perhaps the lieutenants of the President were not feeding him with accurate information on happenings in the country.

He said, “Mr President, in case you are listening to me, I want you to know that your people, Nigerians, you promised Nigerians that you will be fair to all. You said that you will be for everybody and for nobody, and now it will appear that you are for Fulani people because nothing is coming from you to give the people confidence that you are their President.

“You are the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, you are not the President of Fulani. You are the President of everybody and I owe you duty as a stakeholder in this nation to let you know that what is going on is wrong and this has the potential of dividing this country which will not be in the interest of anyone –some of us believe in the unity of this country.”

Continuing the governor said, “Mr President, if some people are deceiving you that all is well, it is not well with us in Benue State and what I can hear from other states, it is not well with Nigeria today, you must act fast before it is late.”

“But you can’t disarm me and arm a Fulani man. This is not right, the Federal Government is biased, it is unfair. The failure insecurity is caused by the Federal Government.”