By Olusegun Olanrewaju and Seyi Odewale
More trouble came the way of the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, as a combined force of opposition from Benue Governor Samuel Ortom, and the state elders withdrew their support for him.

Atiku is still gutted by flames from his major sparring partner, Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, and his camp, who vowed not to work with the Atiku/Okowa presidential campaign team.

But while Ortom and his Benue compatriots flayed Atiku for allegedly working against the interest of their state, Atiku’s strategic campaign strongman, Dele Momodu, held out for his principal, saying labelling Atiku with the cattle breeder group, Miyetti Allah was a misnomer.

Ortom had yesterday appeared to withdraw his support for the presidential candidate of Atiku when he accused the PDP candidate of ‘dishonouring’ him as governor and “working against the interest of Benue residents”.

His comments came after a group of elder statesmen in Benue State, Minda Leaders of Thoughts, also withdrew their support for Atiku over alleged hate speech and profiling of Benue people.

Provoked by Atiku’s comments on the recent killings by suspected herdsmen in Benue State, Ortom accused Atiku of working with a herdsmen group associated with a militant arm, Miyetti Allah.

In a fit of anger, the Benue governor said, “It was not correct for a presidential candidate, who is seeking to rule the people to say that kind of thing.”

Speaking at the Chapel of Grace, Government House, Makurdi, Ortom said, “It was very wrong, and it would appear that he doesn’t even reference me and consider me to be a governor of my state.”

According to Ortom, Atiku had also side-lined him in selecting his presidential campaign team.

“I am not in his campaign team. The people they appointed there, had no consent from me. So, I’ll remain on my own. But I’m waiting; when the election comes, we shall vote according to the election,” he said.

Court nullifies all APC primaries in Rivers

*Benue elders’ stance

Before Ortom’s rage, some Benue State indigenes and elder statesmen on the platform of MINDA leaders of thought had expressed fears for the state if Atiku emerged victorious in the 2023 elections.

The leaders noted that the recent comment by the Atiku during the presidential interactive sessions organised by the Arewa Joint Committee held at Arewa House in Kaduna was not a good signal, but a source of worry for all Benue people.

The PDP candidate, during the session, was quoted, among others, as saying, “I am angry with Samuel Ortom for profiling Fulani as bandits and terrorists because I am a Fulani.”

Addressing the media yesterday in Makurdi, the MINDA elders, through their chairman, Samuel Utoo, and Secretary, Charles Torbunde, said they took “exception to the public exhortation and profiling of Governor Ortom, who has been globally recognised as a model in the fight against the annihilation of Nigerians by marauding pastoralist Fulani, not only in Benue State but across Nigeria.

“Why did Alhaji Atiku fail his emotional balance by contextually dovetailing a general situation, which had more public appeal, into subjective personalism with Governor Ortom as a target? The MINDA Leaders of Thought find such baseless outbursts and accusations unfounded, reprehensible and condemnable, especially coming from a political figure laying claim to Pan-Nigerians, in a nation with trappings of ethnic fragility.

“Alhaji Atiku’s outburst is comprehensively a product of bad taste and unfounded malice that is drenched in ethnic chauvinism against an ethnic group that looks up to him as a protective shield, having been accorded the rear privilege of an honorific chieftaincy title of “Zege Mule u Tiv”, the Paramount Shade of the Tiv people.

“The MINDA Leaders of Thought hereby totally condemn this open attack on the person of Governor Ortom, whose people-oriented position on Open Grazing and Ranches Establishment Law is celebrated, even in developed climes, as the most acceptable method of animal husbandry, as opposed to the current trend which is archaic, outdated and anachronistic in the 21st Century. This is a fact Alhaji Atiku himself accepted as a norm.

“In case of Alhaji Atiku is oblivious, or has simply feigned ignorance about the viciousness of the marauding Fulani against the people of Benue State, he should be reminded that on many occasions, the Fulani socio-cultural organisation, Miyetti Allah Kauta Hore and their allies, have brazenly owned up to the killings in Benue State.

“As this dirge is being written today, bodies are being buried in Ukum Local Government Area of the State where bandits and terrorists which had the trappings of Fulani, have murdered in cold blood more than 36 people in Gbeji. And more bodies are still being recovered.

“The past seven years plus have seen Benue traumatised, witnessing unprecedented killings in the hands of marauding Fulani-induced banditry and terrorism, during the APC-led government at the centre; leading to about two million people displaced and cramped in IDP Camps without any intervention from the Federal Government.”