Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue state has said that Nigerians are feeling very sorry for electing President Buhari and the All Progressives Congress, APC, in 2015 considering the level of insecurity and economic hardship faced across the country.
The Governor who is very critical of the Buhari-led administration, said this when he spoke after signing the amended Benue State Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law of 2017 in Makurdi, the state capital, on Thursday, January 20.
He said all was not well with the country and there is every need for the President to listen to the cries of Nigerians and come up with policies that would mitigate the economic hardship in the country.
According to the governor,
”Corrupt people that are in the government are deceiving you the President. But I must tell you the truth that all is not well. You need to listen to us, you need to listen to the voice of the masses who elected you, because they may have been deceived, now we are sorry that we elected you as President of this country.”
While describing the recent unveiling of the rice pyramid in Abuja as a “huge fraud by those deceiving the President,” Governor Ortom wondered how the government could display a massive rice pyramid yet Nigerians are hungry and not able to feed themselves.
“Somebody explained to me that they got 5,000 sacks of rice and put them on a pyramidal and claimed you have achieved something, but you have not achieve anything. The people behind these things are deceitful, they are telling the President lies.
That fake rice pyramid, is that what will help Nigeria? Introduce policies that will help us improve on our agriculture and economy. The first thing you will do is to chase away the marauding Fulani men who are your kinsmen to stop harassing us so that we can farm and produce enough rice for Nigeria and Nigerians.” he said
On the anti-corruption war being prosecuted by the Buhari-led government, the governor said
”This government has not fought corruption the way we expected them to do since 2015. All the people they are prosecuting are just perceived enemies. The fight is selective, there are former governors in the present cabinet who should be facing trial for corruption but they are not. So which corruption are they fighting?
Let us do the right thing; let us stick to the provisions of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, let us ensure fairness, equity and justice for everybody then things would work.”he said
