Former Benue Governor Justifies Actions: ‘I Challenged Buhari, I Didn’t Hate Him

Former Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, has rejected claims that he harbored hatred for the late former President Muhammadu Buhari over the federal government’s handling of security challenges in the state.....KINDLY READ THE FULL STORY HERE▶

Speaking on Politics Today on Channels Television on Monday, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) stalwart said his frequent criticisms of the Buhari administration were not born out of animosity but out of a duty to defend the lives and welfare of Benue people.

“I never hated Buhari, I never hated his government, and I never hated any Fulani man,” Ortom stated. “I was elected to protect my people and ensure their welfare. That was my mandate. I only faulted the last administration for failing to adequately tackle the security crisis in Benue. I could not stand by and keep burying my people without speaking out.”

The former governor maintained that his administration even developed a solution to address the violence, but lamented that the Buhari government refused to embrace or support it.
“If the Buhari administration had cooperated with us and adopted the solutions we proposed, the insecurity we are witnessing today in Benue would have been avoided,” he said.

Ortom recalled the frustrations he faced at the time, noting that initiatives such as the Ruga ranching policy and similar proposals by the federal government were, in his view, nothing more than a smokescreen.

He further rejected the narrative of a herder–farmer clash, stressing that what communities in Benue faced were violent invasions.
“These are not herders-farmers clashes,” Ortom insisted. “What we see are armed invaders storming villages to kill, destroy farmlands, rape women, and commit atrocities. That is the truth I kept speaking about.”