- Asks Alia To Sheathe Sword With Akume
By Amos Aar
THE IMMEDIATE past governor of Benue state, Samuel Ortom, has cried out that the state is under siege by suspected armed herders despite the existence anti-open grazing law meant to prevent armed herders’ influx and herders-farmer conflicts.
Ortom, who voiced his concern on Tuesday during a public lecture delivered in Makurdi by Prof. Samuel Ovuete Aghalino of History Department, University of Ilorin, as part of activities marking his (Ortom’s) 63rd birthday celebration, urged Benue people to rise to the challenge.
Ortom said incumbent Governor Hyacinth Alia, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator George Akume, and himself, cannot do it alone.
He also advised his successor, Rev. Fr Alia, to sheathe his sword and find ways to work with the SGF to enable people of the state to benefit from the position, which according to him, is being occupied by a Benue indigene for the first time in the history of Nigeria.
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“Benue State is our state, we have no other state rather than Benue State. We need peace but we need to be strong.
“There are challenges, the challenges are beyond the SGF. I appreciate the SGF for his goodwill message. He is my father figure, he is my leader, he is my mentor. I appreciate him for what God has used him to do in my life.
“I also appreciate the governor of Benue State for his goodwill message, especially second to the last paragraph in which he described me as a statesman.
“Benue state had never had an opportunity to have an SGF. The governor must sheathe his sword and find ways to work with the SGF so that all of us will enjoy the dividends of having an SGF and a governor. We are all his subjects, we are available.
“Elections were fought and elections were won. Litigations took place and God vindicated him. Power does not come from anywhere; it comes from God. After Supreme Court judgement, my governorship candidate congratulated him and I followed suit and congratulated him and I made myself available if there were issues. So, it is his responsibility to do the needful so that Benue State will be at peace.
“Benue is under siege and this siege, the governor cannot do it alone, I cannot do it alone, the SGF cannot do it alone. It requires all of you.
In his remarks, former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Chief Michael Kaase Aõndoakaa, asked Governor Alia to amend the penal code of the anti-open grazing law to take the glory of the amendment of the penal code if he did not want to share the glory of introduction of the law with Ortom.
“Ortom is still the Reverend Father behind. If he (Alia) as the governor of Benue state collaborates with him (Ortom) and the president, who is the bagger?
“Anybody who is misleading that if you continue with the anti-open grazing law, the glory will go to Ortom is deceiving you. It’s the penal code that you would have amended to give you glory so that when somebody trespasses on someone’s land, you will give a fine and the glory goes to you, the glory goes to Anti-open grazing law and Benue people”, the former AGF opined.
In his goodwill message, former Nigerian Ambassador to Mexico and Canada, Prof. Iorwuese Hagher, encouraged Ortom to play the role of a citizen in order to protect his people, saying “your task is just beginning. Don’t be scared by age.
“In republican democracy, the citizen is king. In a republican, there are no traditional rulers. So, now, you are a citizen. The office of the citizen should be more important than the office of the governor which you occupied before. It’s now that you are the protector of the Benue Valley”.
On his part, immediate past deputy governor of the state, Engr Benson Abounu, described his former principal (Ortom) as a fearless and courageous leader as well as a true nationalist who “did to Nigerians what no other person has done” in the history of the nation.
Highlight of the occasion was the arming of Ortom with a sword and a spear as symbols of a warrior to continue to protect and defend the Benue Valley.
