Nigeria’s former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar on Sunday dispelled insinuations that he abandoned Benue people during the herdsmen attacks that rocked the state since 2018 which had left the state grappling with humanitarian crisis with over 1.5 million persons in internally displaced persons (IDP) camps.
Atiku who is aspiring to be president of the country in the 2023 election on the platform of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) gave the clarification when he led his campaign team on a visit to the state.
The presidential aspirant who disclosed that he was unable to visit the state during its trying times because he was out of the country for further studies but had issued a number of press statements while overseas condemning the invasion.
He then donated the sum of N50 million for the upkeep of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the state.
He however expressed displeasure about the manner in which the entire Fulani race was profiled in the course of the crisis as violent people but admitted that he had reconciled with Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom for the clarifications he had given.
The former Vice President commended the party leaders in the state for their support to Governor Ortom.
Speaking earlier, Governor Ortom, hafy told theformer Vice President that people of the state were not happy with him for abandoning them during their trying times.
The Governor emphasized that as the holder of one of the highest chieftaincy titles in the Tiv Area Traditional Council, the ‘Zege Mule U Tiv,’ meaning ‘the big shelter of the Tiv nation’, the people were not happy that the presidential aspirant didn’t visit the state or send relief materials when it came under siege by the Fulani militia herdsmen.
“Your visit to Benue as the ‘Zege Mule U Tiv’ is long overdue. But it’s better late than never. You are in your home and we are happy to receive you. But let me say here that our people were not happy that you didn’t visit when terrorists Fulani groups were attacking and killing them in Benue.”
Governor Ortom however cleared the misconceptions that he referred to indigenous Fulani who he said had lived with the people of the state as terrorists, saying the terrorist Fulani groups are from foreign countries.
He listed such terrorists Fulani groups from foreign countries to include Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore (MAKH) and Fulani Nationality Movement (FUNAM) whom he noted, were still terrorising the state and country without the Federal Government coming hard on them.
The governor, decried what he described as the ‘barefooted incapability of the All Progressives Congress, (APC)-led administration at the centre’, saying it is what has led Nigeria to where it is today.
Ortom stated that the success of the PDP at the 2023 elections remains critical above his personal interests stressing that what the party needs now is to remain united in order to reclaim and salvage the country.
Sun
