By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom has repeated criticism of President Muhammadu Buhari for his hypocrisy in tackling insecurity in which he pampers Islamist jihadists in the North but deals harshly with separatists in the South.
He said security forces under Buhari have demonstrated capacity with the arrest of Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), and Sunday Adeyemo, also known as Sunday Igboho, Yoruba nation agitator.
Ortom challenged Buhari’s government on Channels Television to go after herdsmen and terrorists killing, raping, and kidnapping people with the same gusto it has used to pursue separatists, per reporting by Vanguard.
Buhari’s orders
On Buhari’s orders, Nigerian security agents broke international law when they kidnapped Kanu in Nairobi, Kenya on June 27 and brought him to Abuja where he has since been detained to continue his court trial for treason.
He is being held by the Department of State Services (DSS) for advocating a separate country for the Igbos because of their mistreatment in Nigeria.
Buhari is also pressing to extradite Igboho from Benin Republic for agitating for a Yoruba nation carved out of Nigeria’s South West because Fulani herdsmen attack his people with impunity.
He wants Igboho to join Kanu in DSS gulag.
On Buhari’s orders, heavily armed DSS personnel had invaded Igboho’s residence in Ibadan on July 1 and riddled the building with bullets in their desperation to kill him. They could not get him but killed two of his aides and arrested 12 others.
After five weeks in DSS custody, the 12 aides were granted court bail on August 4 in bonds ranging between N5 million and N10 million with two sureties each.
Igboho has spent three weeks in custody in Cotonou while Abuja pushes for his extradition.
Vanguard reports that many Nigerians have knocked Buhari for sparing bandits and terrorists on the rampage in the North and clamping down on Igboho, Kanu and other separatists.
Buhari’s lack of commitment
Ortom said killer militiamen target his state because he banned open grazing.
His words: “I see a lot of lack of commitment on the part of the federal government in ensuring that we have security in this country.
“I will give an example: recently, the federal government has demonstrated the capacity by going after Nnamdi Kanu, who was leading IPOB. I am told he was even arrested in a foreign land with the cooperation of Interpol and so on.
“I heard that Sunday Igboho has been arrested. With that kind of commitment, it shows that the federal government has the capacity.
“Today, bandits, Fulani militia, are terrorising the entire country, the country is in disarray and these Fulani militias have come out with video clips … and they have identified where they are.
“It was amazing that a top government official comes out to say that the Fulani militias are invisible.
“How? Are they spirits? Why is the government not going after these Fulani militias and bandits that are terrorising the entire country and terrorising my state?
“Just two days ago, two humanitarian workers were gunned down in my own village by these Fulani militias and their phones taken away.
“And the Fulani militias took the phones and when one of their (victims’) brothers called, they confirmed that they had killed them and they are in possession of their phones and that they should tell me to repeal the prohibition of open grazing otherwise they have the right to continue to kill since I said there would be no open grazing in Benue State.
“These people who are here, who are calling themselves bandits and are kidnapping our children from school, who are calling themselves Fulani militia and are killing people, driving them from their lands and taking over, why is the federal government not going after them like they went after Sunday Igboho and went after Nnamdi Kanu?”
Ortom said the attacks have displaced more than 1.5 million people in Benue, adding that the federal administration of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has failed in all aspects of governance.
“APC has failed this country. Is it security, is it economically, politically and socially? Where are we today? We can’t go to our villages.
“How many Nigerians can move from Lagos to Kano, Abuja to their villages? It is a problem. APC has completely failed, so, why should I go there to join them? To do what?”.