The governor of Benue State, Dr Samuel Ortom, on Wednesday, tendered his unreserved apology to those who might have been offended by his anti-Fulani comments.
Recall that Ortom while playing host to four Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors, Messrs Nyesom Wike (Rivers State), Seyi Makinde (Oyo), Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia) and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu) during the kickoff of the party’s campaigns in Makurdi on Monday, November 7, warned against supporting a Fulani man for the 2023 presidential election.
Recall that the five governors (Ortom inclusive) popularly called G-5 have been consistent in their demand that the national chairman of the party, Dr Iyorchia Ayu, should step down arguing that northerners should not be the party’s national chairman and presidential candidate.
The governor, who decried the recent killing of 18 people in his local government, told the presidential candidate of the PDP, Mr. Atiku Abubakar, who is Fulani, to go to hell.
Besides, he expressed his frustration with members of the PDP from the State in the national assembly who, according to him, had kept quiet in the face the invasion and killings of Benue citizens.
“I am very angry with all members of the National Assembly who are from Benue State for leaving me alone in the fight against this invasion. Your long silence over the killing of our people by the marauding herdsmen who have vowed to take over our ancestral land, I am not happy with you, especially the senators. Keeping quiet for this pogrom on our people means you are dining and wining with the FG at the detriment of the people that elect you.
“I will never again support any Fulani man in the 2023 elections to continue with the killing of my people and collection of their ancestral land.
“To hell with the PDP presidential candidate; I can’t support a Fulani man for any election so that they will continue with the killing of our people. They should go and tell him. You want me to be a slave for a Fulani. It’s better I die. Anybody supporting Atiku is an enemy of Benue. At 62, I am not afraid of death. Even if I die defending my people, I will be grateful to God because I will be fulfilled,” he said.
However, speaking after the G-5 governors visited the governor of Bauchi State, Mr. Bala Mohammed, on Wednesday at the Ramat House, Ortom said he was sorry for all who felt offended by his comments.
“That was not what I meant when I was captured saying that. But all the same, I know that it would amount to logical fallacy if people had taken it the way I did.
“But I want to say to those who were offended by my remarks, I didn’t mean that, I’m sorry about it,” he said.
