I didn’t hate Buhari – Ortom

Immediate Past Governor of Benue State, Chief Samuel Ortom has denied allegations of harbouring hatred toward the late former President Muhammadu Buhari, clarifying that his criticisms were solely aimed at the administration’s failure to tackle the worsening insecurity in his state.
Ortom stated this when he appeared on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Monday. He explained that his stance was rooted in his obligation to defend and safeguard the lives of the people of Benue State whom he swore to protect as their governor.
“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.
“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.”
Ortom maintained that the ongoing violence in Benue could have been averted if the Buhari-led federal government had accepted and implemented his administration’s proposed interventions.
He recalled feeling consistently ignored and disillusioned during Buhari’s tenure, pointing out that programmes like the Ruga ranching initiative and others presented as solutions were, in his view, deceptive.
The ex-governor also challenged the framing of the conflict as a herders-farmers clash, asserting that what has unfolded in his state is deliberate violence perpetrated by invading herdsmen.
According to him, the intruding herders storm villages to kill, destroy farms, rape women and commit other atrocities.