Kindergarten president – Benue youths blast Buhari for attacking Ortom

The Benue Youths Forum, BYF, has described as watery and kindergarten the response of the Presidency to the damning revelations made by Samuel Ortom about insecurity in the country.

The group said Buhari’s failure to explain to Nigerians why those who claimed responsibility for the killings in Benue state since 2018 have not been arrested and prosecuted; rather than attacking the Governor is a clear indication that the current government has something it is hiding.

The BYF in a statement issued weekend in Makurdi by its National President, Terrence Kuanum, in response to the recent statement by the presidential spokesman, Mallam Garba Shehu who slammed Governor Ortom for speaking out against worsening insecurity in the country, insisted that the response was kindergarten in nature.

The statement read in part, “We, the BYF read from the presidency with utter shock, but some measure of relief an unforced affirmation of allegations made by Governor Samuel Ortom over national security.

“Governor Ortom had stated that some high ranking security personnel had informed him that President Muhammadu Buhari had ordered security forces not to move against Fulani herdsmen responsible for the regime of violence in the country.

“The Presidency in a watery and kindergarten reaction crafted by the ever fallible Garba Shehu avoided the issue raised and resorted to name-calling and the usual vicious attack on the person of Governor Ortom, while calling on the governor to give names of those who gave him the confidential information.

“If the Federal Government wants to claim that it places premium on disclosure of information relating to terrorism and general insecurity, then it should lead by example by exposing those sponsoring terrorism in the country since it claims to know them.

“The BYF wonders why the State House avoided the issue and went for Governor Ortom instead of proving with facts that he was wrong, if at all he was. The Presidency should have also explained why the Federal Government is yet to arrest, parade and/or prosecute any killer herdsman despite the killings of thousands of people, destruction of property worth billions of Naira and displacement of millions of people in Benue state.

“The BYF also questions the professionalism of Shehu as a journalist for telling Governor Ortom to reveal the source of privileged information when he is supposed to be in the best position to know that it is unethical for anyone to disclose the source of confidential information.

“That Garba said the governor ‘expects the country to believe Nigeria’s top security personnel would share high-level confidential information with him’, which means there was a confidential information in the first place and they were apparently disappointed that intelligence got to Governor Ortom without permission.”