Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, on Friday apologised to Nigerians and the people of the state for supporting the election of President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015.
Ortom stated this during his campaign tour of Wanune, in the Tarka Local Government Area of the state.
He called on residents of the area not to vote for his predecessor, Senator George Akume, in the forthcoming National Assembly elections but replace him with the Peoples Democratic Party candidate, who is from a neighbouring local government area.
Speaking during his interactions with leaders of the Christian Association of Nigeria, at the NKST Church in Wannune, Ortom said that he was following the footstep of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who had apologised to Nigerians.
The governor explained that he was doing same because the President Buhari-led administration had not only allegedly failed to live up to expectations but also condoned the atrocities of Fulani herdsmen across the country.
“All complaints for the arrest and prosecution of leaders of Fulani groups that sponsored the killing of our people in the state and destruction of property fell on deaf ears.”
According to him, while Buhari’s kinsmen, the late Presidents Shehu Shagari and Umaru Yar’adua, appointed several Tiv people as ministers in their cabinets, the President had allegedly appointed none, in spite of the fact that the ethnic group which voted massively for him in 2015 was estimated to be the fourth largest in the country.
The governor further alleged that the Buhari administration had brought more hardship on Nigerians and people of the state in different ways, pointing out that Nigerians could not afford another four years of his leadership that would further plunge them into more crises.
He, therefore, urged the people to support his re-election as Governor and that of the presidential candidate of the PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, as President, in the forthcoming general elections.
