Ortom has hit out at Buhari again as the President prepares to hand over power to the incoming administration.
Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, has sent another scathing remark the way of the outgoing President, Muhammadu Buhari, whose eight-year tenure he described as the worst in the history of the country.
The Governor made the assertion while speaking at the commissioning of the Headquarters of the Benue State Community Volunteer Guards, BSCVGs, on Friday, May 26, 2023.
Ortom has never hidden his disdain for Buhari and his style of governance which he believed has brought more misery than relief to Nigerians since he assumed office in 2015.
The Governor is particularly unimpressed with the President’s failure to stop the spate of killings in Benue State, allegedly carried out by herdsmen suspected to be Fulani – the President’s tribe.
Looking back on Buhari’s last eight years at the helms, Ortom claimed the outgoing President reversed the positive trajectory of the nation under former President Goodluck Jonathan thereby plunging Nigeria into unimaginable poverty, insecurity and general maladministration.
He argued that Nigerians have never in their history witnessed the magnitude of bad governance as they did under Buhari in the last eight years.
Ortom said, “I served under the then President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration and we all saw how Nigeria flourished under that administration. We all knew what the prices of foods and services were at the time.
“We also know what our exchange rate was at the time and what it is today. I want Nigerians to do a simple comparison and you will realise how bad it has been under this government and how Nigeria has been taken several years backwards by the Buhari government.
“The fact is that never in the history of Nigeria did we experience this kind of bad governance in the country.
“Corruption is so endemic in this government yet people who steal chicken are thrown into prison but people in government who are busy stealing the wealth of the people are walking free.
“The President recently apologised to Nigerians; we accept the apology but he must be told that he failed woefully and Nigerians are feeling the impact of that failure because we are all suffering.”
He also berated the President for refusing to disarm armed Fulani herdsmen and designating them as a terrorist organisation for allegedly carrying out killings across the country.
Ortom said, “The President told us he is retiring to tend to his cattle, is it because he is returning to be a herder that he failed to deal decisively with herdsmen? That was unfair to Nigerians.”
