THE STATE OF BENUE

THE STATE OF BENUE

I will put this in simple terms: Benue State as it is cannot afford to have another Goerge Akume – influenced government. We are all living witnesses to the horrid effect of such an influence.

The idea of Cleisthenes and Pericles’ democracy is to have a government based on freedom and equality of citizens. Democracy, a word derived from the Greek words ‘Demos’ which means people and ‘Kratos’ which means rule (people rule) was designed to give the people power to choose their leaders and determine their collective destinies.

So, you can imagine my shock in the last three years of this Muhammadu Buhari- led government and of course the coming of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to power as Fulani herdsmen ravaged villages across the country, especially Benue, while the APC leadership either looked away in some cases or egged them on in some others. As the killings increased, Governor Sam Ortom rose in defence of his people and in the process became an enemy of state. It is forbidden to speak against the emperor, the czar, the all-knowing one.

I ask: Where is the freedom? Where is the equality? Is this a democracy? As things heated up what did Akume do? He began to plot for the removal and replacement of Ortom. He crossed the red line, and spoke for his people. How dare he speak for those peasants? It did not matter that the people (whom the power belong to) were being killed every other week in their poor villages. The leadership of APC took sides with their Fulani master, and just like the Trotsky and Lenin led Bolshevik’s Russian revolution of 1917, they schemed for the removal of the governor. You know the rest of the story.

Elections are a few months away. The APC has presented their candidate, we must resist them. We must say no to god-fathers, we must say no to Fulani occupation and or conquest. What we need in the next four years is a governor free of the influence of a godfather, a governor ready to stand and fight for his people.

As the entire nation comes together to rectify the grave mistakes of 2015, Benue State must not be left out. This is a battle to save the soul of our country, we must all be involved. We must as a matter of urgency be involved in this process. Let us come out and vote the only truly national party, the PDP.

It was Marcus Tullius Cicero, the respectable Roman statesman, orator, lawyer, and philosopher who said in one of his popular writings that “the safety of the people shall be the highest law”.

Tony Agbo, Abuja

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