Buhari Failed To Address The Situation In Benue - Gov. Ortom's Aide Speaks On President's Visit

Posted by Odinaka on Thu 15th Mar, 2018 - tori.ng

The spokesman of Benue State Governor has said that President Buhari who visited the state on Monday, over two months after an attack by herdsmen which claimed over 80 lives, failed to address the situation and left the people hopeless.

Buhari and Ortom in Benue

While speaking in an interview on a Channels Television interview, Sunrise Daily, spokesman of Samuel Ortom, governor of Benue, Tahaz Agerzua, said President Muhammadu Buhari’s visit to the state did not give hope to the people, adding that Buhari failed to address the true situation on ground.

Agerzua said while the people appreciate the visit of the President on Monday, over two months after the new year attack by herdsmen which claimed over 80 lives, they were not hopeful of an end to the clashes between farmers and herders.

He said: “We appreciate the visit but we didn’t get any hope. In Benue state, the president did not condole with us.

“We appreciate that he was able to take his time and come and sit down for several hours to listen to the stakeholders, but he did not sympathise with the families.

“The president failed to address the situation on ground and the situation is that a group of people, six months ago, made threats that they were invading Benue state, and six months later, they are carrying out this threat.

“We expected him as the commander in chief of the army to make a declaration, a statement on it. What we expected from the president was to give us assurance that the invaders would be chased out; there are presently 170,000 displaced people in eight counts across the state, that is a huge humanitarian crisis.

“We thought that there would be some word of chasing these people so that the displaced can return to their houses.”