Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State has demanded an apology from the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, for allegedly lying against him.
Mr Ortom said this on Wednesday when he received a group, under the agies of Jemgbagh Youths, on a protest at the Government House, Makurdi, over alleged lies against him by Atiku.
He said Atiku, a former vice president of Nigeria, should make a public apology for alleging that his brothers were stealing herdsmen’s cattle in the state.
“Immediately I heard the news, I sent him a message on WhatsApp and he apologised to me.
“I told him to make the apology public but he declined, and I am saying he cannot undress an elder like me in public and then come back to dress me in a room.
“He lied against me and I take exceptions to that because what he said is hate speech,” Mr Ortom said.
The governor faulted Atiku’s claim that he issued a blanket condemnation of all Fulani people as bad, saying he never said that.
“Some Fulani people are my friends, I trust them to a point of even taking them to my bedroom and I have not sent any Fulani man away from Benue.
“It is only the foreign ones that came from Mali, Mauritania among others that are terrorising our people.
“Atiku, you have been very unfair to Benue people and Fulani people alone cannot make you the president,” he said.
The PDP presidential candidate is a Fulani, from Adamawa State.
Mr Ortom, however, said that in spite of the crisis in the PDP, he would work towards its victory at all levels in the state.
He stated that no matter what has happened, a baby cannot be thrown away with the bath water.
“I am committed to the victory of the party at all levels in the state,” he said.
He commended President Muhammadu Buhari for condemning the attacks by suspected herdsmen in Gbeji, Ukum Local Government Area (LGA) of the state.
Earlier, the Chairman of Gboko LGA, Isaac Mtom, said the group visited the governor to identify with him over his developmental strides as well condemn Atiku’s outburst.
Mr Mtom said Atiku’s statement clearly showed that he did not mean well for Benue people.
Mr Ortom is among the five governors led by Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State asking the National Chairman of the PDP, Iyorchia Ayu, to resign, to balance the leadership structure of the party.
They said it was improper and unfair for a northerner to occupy the position of the national chairman when another northerner is the party’s presidential candidate.
Both Messrs Ayu and Atiku are from the northern part of the country.
(NAN)
