Open letter to Buhari: Middle Belt warns over attack on Ortom 

The Middle Belt Movement for Justice and Peace, MBMJP, yesterday, said Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State deserved commendation and not attack by pro-Buhari groups for his call on the president to take urgent steps to address the worsening insecurity in the country.

The MBMJP cautioned that any attempt to vilify the Benue State governor who spoke the minds of Nigerians would further confirm the fears of most Nigerians that the presidency had taken sides with armed herders.

Convener of MBMJP, Comrade Joe Bukka, in a statement in Makurdi, said those behind the media outing against the Benue State governor had done more harm than good to the image of the Buhari Presidency. The statement said:

“We read the media statement by the three groups who came under the Friends of Buhari to vilify the Benue State governor for recently advising President Buhari to act fast to save the country from activities of armed herders who are gradually plunging this country into a major civil crisis. And our question is: what offence did the governor commit by that honest and timely advice? In the Middle Belt we know Governor Ortom as one of the very few in this country who speak the truth always.

“A man who in the last few years has given his all even to the detriment of his safety and well-being to champion the call for ranching in Nigeria which is gradually becoming a sing-song all over the country, deserves commendation and not vilification from any quarter. Moreover, he spoke the minds of majority of Nigerians on the state of our country.

“So, attacking him is obviously confirming to Nigerians that the Presidency is shielding armed herders who are daily killing, maiming and tormenting Nigerians. “For the avoidance of doubt, any media attack on Governor Ortom who is regarded in the Middle Belt as the only mouthpiece of the ordinary man in government will be counter-productive as it will further demean and discredit the Presidency in this part of the country.

“And for the purpose of clarity we must point out that testimonies abound that the Governor, aside championing the cause of the people, has and is still delivering dividends of democracy to the people of Benue State.

“Contrary to the claims of Buhari’s Friend, Governor Ortom has done so much in the areas of infrastructural development, construction of schools, roads, hospitals, electricity, water projects, payment of salaries and pensions and the provision of security for the people many of who were displaced from their ancestral homes by armed herders and have been abandoned in IDPs camps by the Federal Government.”