Stop blackmailing Ortom, ZAPA tells Presidency

By Our Reporter

Benue people under the aegies of Zone A Peoples Assembly (ZAPA) have cautioned the Presidency to desist from blackmailing Gov. Samuel Ortom.

This is contained in a statement signed by its President, Mr Fannen Mondo and Secretary, Mr J .T Ornguga and issued to newsmen on Sunday in Makurdi.

They declared that President Muhammadu Buhari lacked the justification to criticise and blackmail the Ortom.

The group challenged the presidency to rather address sensitive issues of insecurity, astronomical inflation and rising unemployment in the country as raised by the governor.

They were reacting to the recent press release by the Senior Special Assistant (SSA) on Media to the President, Mr Garba Shehu who tried to mock the Benue State Governor over his recent interview on AriseTV. 

"Ortom has not done any wrong by advising the President." 

"Each time the governor challenges President Muhammadu Buhari on specific issues, especially those bothering on insecurity that is affecting every facet of life in the country, the presidency would always abandon the issues and indulge in ignoble acts of blackmail in order to intimidate the governor to cheap submission.

"How is it a lie that President Buhari only thinks like a Fulani man and not as a president of the country like Nigeria?,"  the group queried.

They further stated that just recently, the Governor of Katsina State, Aminu Masari called on the people of the State to take up arms and defend themselves against the terrorists in their state. 

"This is the President's state and nobody said anything to him." 

"After nearly seven years in office, the All Progressives Congress (APC) led Federal Government has failed to fix the nations refineries which was one of their major campaign messages. 

"President Buhari and his party are flat footed on how to fix the nations economy," they said. 

The group said that President Buhari should learn to read the body language of citizens and understand the challenges Governor Ortom was facing. 

They said that the governor had not disappointed Benue people, stressing that he had put in place so much infrastructure on the ground. 

"Many township roads have received attention. Many rural roads have been taken care of, while others are still under construction and rehabilitation amongst others. 

"All that the people of Benue state want is the dislodgement of marauding Fulani herdsmen from their homesteads and farmland so that they can leave the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps and return to their homes," they said. 

They pledged their unalloyed support to the Ortom, assuring him that they were with him and would always queue behind him with the needed support against any blackmail, threats and intimidations from any quarters.