George Okoh In Makurdi
Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, has accused the presidential candidate of the People Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 election, Atiku Abubakar, of waging a personal vendetta against him, because he asked him to apologise for wrongly accusing him of profiling the Fulani.
Ortom, who further accused Atiku of shunning him in the appointment of his campaign team, revealed this at the Government House, Makurdi.
He said while PDP members were consulted and appointed into the Atiku team from Benue, the party’s candidate shuned him for asking him to apologise over his comment at the Arewa House that he (Ortom) was profiling Fulanis as bandits and criminals.
The governor disclosed that he called the former vice-president to debunked the statement in the media but he never did, rather, he acted as if he didn’t matter in the political arena.
“When Atiku spoke at the Arewa House a few days ago, accusing me of profiling Fulanis as criminals, I called him to express my displeasure over it and called on him to apologise and to also call his media handlers to order over the misinformation.
“Atiku never did and has gone around to snub me in the recruitment of his campaign structure. Anyway we are waiting for the day of the election,” the governor said, adding that he has never profiled the Fulanis but asked them to respect the laws of the state.
“I have Fulani people in my government and they can live freely in the state. But they have to respect the law of the state,” adding that he could not keep quiet in the face of massive killing and displacement of over two million people in the state.
“Several attacks by herdsmen have left our state desolate with over two million IDPs in camps and they say I should not talk,” he said.
