Benue: Zone B youths dare Akume, challenge minister to popularity test over anti-grazing law

A youth group known as Zone B Youth Alliances, has challenged the current Minister of Special Duties and Inter-governmental Affairs, Geroge Akume, to a popularity test.

This followed Akume’s constant attacks on the person and office of Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom over his stance on open grazing in the state.

Akume, a former governor and senator, has been vocal against the decision of the Ortom-led government to ban open grazing of cattle in the state.

The youth group said Akume’s tireless attacks on the person and office of Governor Ortom by his hirelings further confirm that he’s nothing but “a stooge in the hands of Fulani against his own people.”

Recall that Benue State stakeholders had on Thursday passed a vote of confidence on the governor for his untiring efforts to ensure the security of lives and property.

And the Zone B youths are challenging the minister to a popularity test, asking him to call a meeting of Benue stakeholders and propose to them that the only way to end the killings is to repeal the Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law.

The group in a statement signed by its President, Comrade Ternenge Bendega wondered what offence Benue people have committed against Akume that he now hates bitterly? appreciate him?

The group, therefore, warned the minister to stop his attack on Ortom and the people of the state.

The statement reads below.

We have watched in shock, the persistent attacks on the person and office of Governor Samuel Ortom by hirelings of the Minister of Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Affairs, George Akume who is a stooge in the hands of Fulani people against his own people.

We want to throw a challenge to Senator Akume. Since he has told President Muhammadu Buhari that Governor Ortom is the only person pushing the Fulani herdsmen issue, he should call a meeting of Benue stakeholders and propose to them that the only way to end the killings is to repeal the Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law.

Akume should also ask the stakeholders if Governor Ortom is on his own and not representing their collective position on Ranching. We believe that he will get a good response for Buhari from Benue people.

The next thing Akume should do is to ask Benue people if they can pass a vote of confidence on him and President Buhari as they did on Gov Ortom yesterday. We also believe that the response from the people on that suggestion will give him an idea of how Benue is united devoid of political affiliations to resist the attacks on them by Buhari’s kinsmen.

While he is yet to do the above, we once more express our disappointment in him as a Benue son. His silence on killings in the state is a loud indictment on himself and those around him who have not advised him.

We have kept wondering what offence we have committed against Akume that he now hates us so bitterly? Was it a sin to vote him out of the Senate? When he told the whole world that we were the ones killing ourselves and not Fulanis, did he expect us to clap for him? Did he expect us to rejoice and appreciate him?

This is a man we massively supported to become governor of Benue State in 1999 and after his 8-year tenure, we voted him to go to the Senate without any scorecard to his name. But he chose to inflict pain on us with his Fulani collaborators. So when the time for election came in 2019, we the people of Zone B decided to remove him from the red chamber.

As a senator, Akume did not move a single motion or sponsored just one bill in 12 years. His “stewardship” in the red chamber was all about local politics, insisting that he must install a Governor for Benue when his colleagues were busy taking big decisions on the national stage. He has continued with such a local mentality even now that he is a minister.

This man has insulted us enough!