By Shittu Waheed
Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue state had few days ago, on Politics Today on Channels TV spoke on the state of insecurity in Nigeria and cried out loud that with the spate of insecurity in the country, he is afraid that if concerted efforts were not made towards arresting the ugly situation, even the Presidential villa might one day become a target of terrorists.
Governor Ortom had earlier criticized the handling of security issues, accusing the federal government of being too relax and lethargic in tackling insecurity in the country, a development he said has taken the lives of thousands of citizens in the country and property worth billions of naira.
Days after that revealing interview with Channels TV, we have lost a battalion of our military men in Shiroro, Niger State to terrorists. As if that was not the height of it all, there was an attack on the presidential convoy and a massive prison break in Nigeria all within 24 hours.
Governor Ortom has always been in the forefront of exposing the inadequacies of Government in handling sensitive issues that have ended up consuming lives of Nigerians; but instead of heeding to his warnings, the federal government has always resorted to calling him names and ignoring the salient issues raised just to paint him in bad light.
Agreed that the government has not been comfortable with governor Ortom’s nationalistic and patriotic stands on national issues. But why ignore the message and the unblemished messenger?
History keeps vindicating Ortom; but Nigerians are never learning their lessons from this great man of wisdom who is obviously a loud voice in the wilderness.
Recent outing by Governor ORTOM and the corresponding effects of those outing has proven that he is a man of peace brought into our polity to stabilize the system and make us look upright to realities that have befallen us as a people. But when shall we learn?
Our country has been engulfed by certain elements that are out to destabilize the country for their selfish interests and the federal government has always handled it with kid gloves which has complicated our situation to this level giving rise to a plethora of conspiracy theories suggesting that the government is somewhat complicit.
Having realised the worth of this patriot called Ortom, I call on Nigerians to see to his upliftment and follow his trajectories closely to see us through this crisis that has engulfed the whole nation where no one is safe and all hope is on God to safe us from this dangerous evil that has become our story as a government
The South West Youth Leaders Forum have as always, pledged their unalloyed loyalty to Governor Ortom and his Government and will stand tall behind him to fulfill the royal destiny running through him.
We call on Nigerians to accept the prophesies of this peace builder and allow the anointing flowing in him to restore the peace that we all need in our daily lives in Nigeria which will subsequently lead us to that greatness that we all lack at the moment in our country
As we do that to the glory of God, and good of mankind, we submit totally to our faith and believes that to God be the glory as we restore our greatness again through the leadership of his humble servant, Governor Samuel Ortom.
Waheed is the President of the South West Youth Leaders Forum.