Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom has labelled the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari as the “worst” when it comes to handling security matters.
The governor who was a guest on Channels TV’s Sunrise Daily on Tuesday expressed disappointment in the way the Buhari administration has handled certain critical matters in the country, particularly insecurity.
The governor was reacting to the president’s open grazing policy.
“Mr President is pushing me to think that what they say about him, that he has a hidden agenda in this country is true,” Ortom said, adding: “because it is very clear that he wants to fulanise but he is not the first Fulani president.
“Shagari was a Fulani President, Yar’ Adua was a Fulani President and they were the best in the history. But President Buhari is the worst President when it comes to issues of security and keeping his promises.
“Go back to 2015, what did he say, human rights issues, he talked about press freedom, about the economy, corruption, security, tell me one that Mr President has achieved.
“He has achieved some level of development in other sectors but these prominent things that are concerns to Nigerians and we are all worried about.. tell me when Mr President has come out to address them. Is it corruption, we are worse in the history of this country”.
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Ortom disagrees with the president’s plan to allow open grazing as a solution to the lingering farmers/herders clashes, stating that it will only worsen insecurity.
He also stated that it was disappointing that despite the agreement reached by most states that ranching is a better way to go in an attempt to resolve the crisis, the President remains determined to go ahead with open grazing.
“If Mr President respects the law, the Land Use Act gives governors the power to preside over land administration on behalf of the people that they govern.
“So it is amazing and I am surprise to hear this coming from Mr President as if he doesn’t have an Attorney General, or Lawyers around him to advise him. I think Mr President was misquoted or he did it out of error. He should come out to apologise to Nigerians.”
His comments come days after President Muhammadu Buhari approved recommendations of a committee to review “with dispatch”, 368 grazing sites, across 25 states in the country, “to determine the levels of encroachment.”
Among other things, the Committee recommended the production of maps and geo-mapping/tagging of sites, analysis of findings and report preparations as well as design appropriate communication on Grazing Reserves and operations.
