24/08/2018
BEING THE TEXT OF A COMMUNIQUE ISSUED AT THE END OF AN EMERGENCY MEETING OF THE JEMGBAGH CONSULTATIVE FORUM OVER UNGODLY AND PROVOCATIVE ATTEMPTS TO DRAG SENATOR GEORGE AKUMEโS NAME INTO SECURITY COMPLICATIONS IN BENUE STATE.
The Jemgbagh Consultative Forum, a non-partisan and non-religious group which is aimed at bringing Jemgbagh sons, daughters and wives together with the objective of fostering unity and harmony in other to achieve progress and development of Jemgbagh area has observed with dismay, the recent unfolding of events in the face off between the Executive Governor of Benue State, His Excellency Dr. Samuel Ortom and the Senator representing Benue North West, our son, Senator Dr. George Akume. The forum notes with deep concern, the deliberate attempts to blackmail and tarnish the reputation of Senator George Akume which he has painstakingly built over the years.
Our concerns are further heightened by the fact that most of these attacks and fabrications are emanating from the chief executive of the state who is supposed to be like a father for all and who as a person is a beneficiary of Senator Akumeโs benevolence.
These fabrications were taken to limits we consider too far at the last Tiv supreme Assembly โIjirTamenโ in Gboko on Friday, 17th August, 2018 where the governor went further to accuse Senator Akume of planning with governor of Nassarawa state, Tanko Almakura to take his life and cause harm to other parts of Tiv land. We challenge the governor to lay open and further prove the facts of his allegations.
The Jemgbagh Consultative Forum restrained itself from throwing the forum into partisan debates, but the continuous use of foul language, blatant falsehood, outright fabrications on social and mainstream media and now the โIjirTamenโ with the sole aim of demonizing our son Senator Dr. George Akume by linking him to perpetrators of genocide against the people of Benue state apparently to make capital politically is not only wicked, but an affront on the sensibilities of the good people of Benue state.
It is quite shameful and disgraceful that governor Samuel Ortomโs desperate politics has degenerated to mud-slinging and childish dimensions of using every platform to haul insults at opponents, first it was former governor Gabriel Suswam who he accused of being the cause of the failure of his administration, and now Senator George Akume who he makes wild improbable allegations of conspiracy with aliens to take his life and harm Tiv people. We like to quickly challenge the governor to shelve off the burden of proof and publish evidence of his accusations against Senator George Akume.
We like to place on record that insecurity and clashes between farmers and herdsmen in Benue state predates the Ortom led administration. History will forever remain kind to our son, Senator George Akume for tackling the unwarranted attacks on the people of Benue state concurrently from Nassarawa and Taraba states in 2001 when he held sway as governor of Benue state. Senator Akume fought this battle bearing in mind his oath to protect the people of Benue state, accepting responsibility for every action or inaction in the course of the mayhem. The reconciliatory efforts of the Akume administration through a peace committee led by experienced Benue sons resulted to the peaceful return of Tiv people to their ancestral homes in the affected states.
Akumeโs successor, Dr. Gabriel Suswan also had his fair share of the killings and insecurity in the state. For those who may be hoodwinked into passing judgments without recourse to history, this crises is believed to have climaxed in 2012, barely a year into Suswamโs second tenure in office as governor. This was when the home of the late Tor Tiv, Orchivir Dr. Alfred Akawe Torkula was completely razed down by suspected herders. The country home of the current governor, Samuel Ortom was also destroyed during this period. This conflict assumed a very dangerous dimension when the convoy of the former governor, Gabriel Suswam was reportedly attacked by these same marauders on his way to an on the spot assessment of the crises in Guma local government area where Ortom hails from.
In the face of these scary realities, the Suswam led administration also faced this challenge as a government without necessary seeking to demonize other Benue sons even as there was fierce opposition to his government.
It is therefore very strange to us that instead of accepting this challenge and others as a government and confronting them head long for the peace and good of all the people of Benue state, Governor Samuel Ortom has resorted to incredibly cheap levels of calling names and passing buck which is supposed to stop at his table as the chief security officer of Benue state.
We are equally shocked that both the governor and the Tor Tiv would allow the first major outing of the paramount ruler to be used to score cheap political points instead of addressing fundamental issues affecting Tiv people. The originators of the Tiv Supreme Assembly (โIjirTamenโ) and those who fought for the establishment of the Tiv Traditional Council did not intend that any of the platforms should be erected in favour of one Tiv son to disparage another. We call on the TorTiv Prof. James Ayatse to learn a lesson from history and not fall to the temptation of allowing the purity of important arms of administration in Tiv land like the โIjirtamenโ to be dotted with purely self-partisan colorations as was witnessed at the previous sitting so as to keep his legitimacy among all parts of Tiv land.
The nagging question is, how does governor Samuel Ortom wants us to believe he worship God when he failed to inform the โiJir tamenโ of the efforts made by the federal government to end killings in the state through the exercise โAyem a kpatemaโ which has now been upgraded to operation โWhirl strokeโ that has been defending people of the state by chasing the aggressors away from their hideouts?
As governor of Benue state for eight years, Senator George Akume had a better platform and opportunity to cede Benue land to the Fulanis in Nassarawa and Taraba states. Yet he fought aggressively for Tiv people from these states, mobilizing all Tiv sons and internal defense mechanisms to secure the state. Senator Akume sure has tremendous good will going for him in Nigeria for standing by the nationโs democracy at great self-costs when he led the country against the tenure elongation agenda of former President OlusegunObasanjo after which he was nationally honoured as hero of democracy. How then does Governor Samuel Ortom buy into the idea that such huge efforts could just be washed away by mere propaganda? If this pile of falsehood is meant to be a dent on the growing influence of distinguished Senator George Akumeโs political leadership, governor Samuel Ortom and his conspirators in palaces and government must be told thatโ who God has blessed no man can curseโ.
Benue and the Tiv people have been here before Ortom and will sure outlive his inglorious administration of propaganda and blame games. It is on record that senator George Akume, like many other prominent Benue sons has been in the vanguard to seeking justice for the people of the state and resettling them. It is this drive for justice that made the Senator to rise in opposition to comments credited to the Inspector General of Police in a senate committee report which contradicted the governorโs account on the crises situation in the state without giving him fair hearing. It is on record that the senate set aside its committee report in order to give the governor fair hearing following a resolution sought by Senator George Akume on the floor of the senate. We know that the governorโs appearance before the senate committee became his first most popular national platform to present the Benue situation. This is not to mention the position of Benue legislators at the national assembly which was presented by Senator Akume at a word press conference held at the government House Makurdi.
Evidence abound that Senator Akume was the first to call for the arrest of the leadership of Miyetti Allah Kaota H**e at the Benue stakeholders meeting where the governor signed the open grazing prohibition and ranches establishment bill into law after which the call became a recurrent song for Governor Samuel Ortom. It is therefore ungodly that after these huge efforts, the governor could descend so low obviously for political reasons to accuse Senator Akume of complicity in the killings in Benue State, when it is an open secret in Benue that the governorโs aid and security consultant to the state government Alhaji Tashaku has been arrested and is said to have given useful information that suggests his complicity in the killing of two catholic priests and worshipers in Mbalom, Gwer local government area of Benue state.
It is a great relief however, that the governor has now found a platform different from Senator Akume. We hope that with his new political association, Benue civil servants would now receive their salaries and pensioners will also smile to the bank. We also hope that within this period, the governor will initiate, execute and commission projects that would alleviate the sufferings of the people of the state as a way of fulfilling his campaign promises to the people and would be better placed for the second tenure he is desperately looking for.
Come to think of it, the current wave of killings have affected every part of the country, people are being killed in many states including Benue, Plateau, Adamawa, Taraba, Kaduna, with Zamfara, an exclusively Muslim state being the worst hit. Yet projects are going on in those states including the north east which has suffered under Boko Haram insurgents. No governor from these states has cheapened governance to this level in Benue by blaming leaders within the state. How then could the governor attempt to make a national problem an exclusive Benue affair?
As things stand at the moment, Governor Samuel Ortom must separate his second term aspiration from the search for lasting peace and security in Benue state through the implementation of the Open Grazing prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law 2017. The government of Benue State must be open to new suggestions for improvements in the implementation which will not portray Benue as pursuing an agenda other than the corporate existence of Nigeria as a country. A situation where the governor sees every dissenting voice to the law no matter how just as an attack on his administration thereby branding people as enemies of the state will not augur well for the much needed unity and peaceful co-existence among the people of the state and their visitors.
From the current situation in Benue State, it is only the aspect of open grazing prohibition of the law that has been given hype by the government with less success in implementation as cattle still move freely in many parts of the state. The aspect of establishment of ranches which is equally part of the law is yet to find proper accommodation by the government implementation process. Even the three pilot ranches earlier promised by the government have not being established. Instead, the government has advocated creation of individual ranches by herdsmen as against designated centers to be used in the business of rearing cattle in the state.The implication of this position by the state government is that there is no limit to which herdsmen can own ranches in the state and should this be allowed to persist, there could be ranches in many parts of the state that if put together could take land even wider than the size proposed by the federal government. This will sure betray the regulatory aim of the anti-grazing law as conceived by the people of Benue state. In many of the countries where the governor cites as examples of the success story of ranching, where can he point to the kind of ranches he advocates for in Benue state?
We wish to put it on record that as a respected Nigerian who has served Benue in its highest position as Governor for eight years and senator for 11 years running. Senator George Akume has the right to air his views and concerns about any matter in the state without fear. Not even the current wave of blackmail and propaganda will cow the Senator from performing his duty as a senior citizen.
We are very surprised that Governor Samuel Ortom who is a serial beneficiary of Senator George Akumeโs political generosity would fail to manage his relationship with the Senator thereby taking matters which could ordinarily be resolved internally to the media and other public platforms. This is a very bad precedence and a behavior that is alien to our culture and traditions.
We commend the maturity and calmness with which our son Senator George Akume has managed this matter even in the face of unwarranted provocative attacks on his person and office and urge him to sustain same in the interest of peace and general good of the people of Benue state who he loves so much.
We call on the Benue state Council of chiefs headed by his Royal Majesty, the Tor Tiv V, Perof. James Ayatse, the Tiv Area Traditional Council, elders and community leaders from MINDA where governor Samuel Ortom hails from to speak reason to him to refrain from further attacks and blackmail against his political benefactor, Senator Dr. George Akume as the Forum (Jemgbagh Consultative Forum) shall NOT and NEVER take such attacks on any Jemgbagh son.
Yughur Samuel Dr. Myer Aor
Vice President Acting PRO
Attention
The Inspector General of Police
The Director Department of State Security DSS
His Royal Majesty, Prof. James Ayatse
Tor Tiv V and Chairman, Benue State Council of Chiefs
His Royal Majesty, Agabaidu Elias IkoyiObekpa
Ochiโidoma and chairman, Idoma Area Traditional council
All First Class chiefs in Benue State
Yughur Samuel Dr. Myer Aor
Vice President Acting PRO
