•Benue governor clarifies, apologises
Northern Elders Forum (NEF) yesterday flayed Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom for his anti-Fulani outburst at the weekend.
The elders, who also called for the arrest of persons behind the killings in the North, accused Ortom of speaking in a “manner and language totally unbecoming of a leader.”
But the governor said yesterday that he was ”very sorry” for the outburst which, according to him had been taken out of context.
Ortom had while reacting to the killings in Benue State by herdsmen said he would not in any way support the emergence of a Fulani man as President after President Muhammadu Buhari.
In a statement by its spokesman, Dr. Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, NEF advised the governor to live up to his oath of office and commitment to live as a responsible leader of his people.
The statement reads: “Northern Elders Forum, like other Nigerians, watched the video in which Governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom, speaks in a manner and language totally unbecoming of a leader, at a time when standards of responsibility and decorum should be at their highest levels.
“Even while making allowances for the established patterns of rhetorics and practice of Governor Ortom on inter-communal relations, this latest outburst should be condemned in a most emphatic manner.
“It does neither justice to the condemnable killings in Benue State, nor to the standing of the governor of his people. The context of a politicised environment does not excuse this latest demeaning outing of Governor Ortom. On the contrary, it diverts attention from the latest tragedy that has befallen citizens and families in Benue State.
He (Ortom) should avoid the temptation to play to a gallery which, like all Nigerians, is desperate for relief and an end to the killings which pitch them against each other and leads them towards unending conflicts.”
It added that those seeking Northern votes must ”demonstrate how they intend to address damaging profiling and deliberate exploitation of passions eminently demonstrated by Governor Ortom.”
NEFalso demanded that killers of villagers in Benue State and other citizens in other villages in many parts of the North must be traced and prosecuted.
In Bauchi, the Bauchi State capital, Ortom clarified that he was misquoted when said that he would not vote for a Fulani.
He spoke with reporters after a meeting of the G-5 Integrity Group with Bauchi State Governor Bala Mohammed.
The group comprises five governors of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) kicking against the opposition party having two Northerners as its presidential candidate and National Chairman.
Ortom said: “I want to say that, that was not what I meant when I was captured saying that. But all the same, I know that it would amount to a logical fallacy if people have taken it the way I did but I want to say to those who are so offended by my remarks, I am very sorry, I didn’t mean that.”