The Benue Youth Forum, BYF have lashed out at the Nigerian Presidency with a caution to it to leave Governor Samuel Ortom alone and focus on tackling the myraids of insecurity challenges facing the country
BYF President, Terrence Kuanum in a a statement issued in Makurdi said it read with utter shock, but some measure of relief an unforced affirmation of allegations made by Governor Samuel Ortom over national security.
Governor Ortom had stated that some high ranking security personnel had informed him that President Muhammadu Buhari had ordered security forces not to move against Fulani herdsmen responsible for the regime of violence in the country.
The BYF said ” The Presidency in a watery and kindergarten reaction crafted by the ever fallible Garba Shehu avoided the issue raised and resorted to name-calling and the usual vicious attack on the person of Governor Ortom, while calling on the governor to give names of those who gave him the confidential information.
‘If the Federal Government wants to claim that it places premium on disclosure of information relating to terrorism and general insecurity, then it should lead by example by exposing those sponsoring terrorism in the country since it claims to know them.
“The Benue Youth Forum wonders why the State House avoided the issue and went for Governor Ortom instead of proving with facts that he was wrong, if at all he was. The Presidency should have also explained why the Federal Goverenment is yet to arrest, parade and/or prosecute any killer herdsman despite the killings of thousands of people, destruction of property worth billions of naira and displacement of millions of people in Benue state.
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“The BYF also questions the professionalism of Garba as a journalist for telling Governor Ortom to reveal the source of privileged information when he is supposed to be in the best position to know that it is unethical for anyone to disclose the source of confidential information.
“That Garba said the governor “…expects the country to believe Nigeria’s top security personnel would share high-level confidential information with him…” means there was a confidential information in the first place and they were apparently disappointed that intelligence got to Governor Ortom without permission.
“The Benue Youth group also finds it laughable that the presidency calls Governor Ortom a lier and an opportunist who is out to cause disunity in the country.
“But it has to be reminded that a man who has won governorship election twice on two different political platforms can’t be said to opportunistic, unlike a man who became a serial election loser until unsuspecting Nigerians were scammed into shipping him into the Presidential Villa despite clear signs of impending failure as it has become of the state of the nation.
“Garba and his employers also need to be aware that Governor Ortom is a symbol of unity in the country and his desire for peace, justice and equity for all reverberates the entire landscape unlike some leaders who have given tribalism and and religious intolerance wings to fly; who have elevated nepotism to a state religion and have reduced the lives of humans to mere statistics.
“The Benue Youth Forum observes that Nigeria would be about the most peaceful nation to be in if President Buhari does half of what Governor Ortom and other well meaning Nigerians do and expect of him.
“The BYF calls on Nigerians to ask more questions, and demand for concrete answers from the presidency which has resorted to diversionary tactics just to elude scrutiny from the people over the well- informed allegations made by Governor Ortom.
“BYF commends Governor Ortom for standing for the truth and telling it to power, and urges him not to be deterred by the antics of the Buhari-led administration that has driven Nigeria to the bank of the abyss” he said
