Presidency: Ortom Should Name Who Claimed Buhari Ordered Security Not to Contain Criminal Herdsmen

Deji Elumoye in Abuja

The Presidency, yesterday, formally reacted to  claims by Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State, that top security personnel claimed President Muhammadu Buhari directed them not to move against criminal Fulani herdsmen causing violence.

Ortom had in a recent interview claimed that high ranking security personnel had informed him personally that President Buhari had ordered security forces not to move against the Fulani herdsmen responsible for recent violence.

Presidential spokesman, Mallam Garba Shehu, in a release, described the claims as patently untrue, stressing that, “If he is as brave as he claims to be, let him name names. Let him name the military personnel, who told him this story or forever shut up.”

 According to the Presidency, it was disappointing that Ortom, who in the same interview, described himself as a child of God, who believed in being lawful and respected the Nigerian constitution, felt the need to spread such a divisive lie.

“In a period of heightened insecurity, our politicians should be working to bring us closer together, not risking further violence by dishonestly seeking to further divide us along ethnic or religious lines.

“Fortunately, the cheap, dog whistle politics behind Ortom’s falsehood are plain for all to see. He is not the first opportunistic politician, who has attempted to sow discord amongst his country’s people in the run-up to an election; sadly, he will not be the last.

“The Nigerian people will see him for what he is: an opportunist flaunting his wares as the country prepares to elect its next president; a man fond of posing in military fatigue, who expects the country to believe Nigeria’s top security personnel would share high-level confidential information with him. To be clear: they do not.”