Ortom denies insulting Buhari

Contrary to media reports credited to senior special assistant to the president, Garba Shehu, that Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State had been insulting Mr. President during his campaigns in churches, the governor has expressed his belief that the allegation was not coming from Mr. President but cabals in the presidency.

Ortom, who made the rebuttal yesterday while fielding questions from journalists in Makurdi, maintained that in the course of his campaigns, he never insulted the president.“I am sure that statement from Garba Shehu is coming from the cabal that the wife of the president was complaining about. It cannot be from the president.“If I talk of Miyetti Allah claiming responsibility for the killings in Benue, it came from them; it was before the media and everybody knew about it.

“If I talk about FUNAM (Fulani National Movement) who did a press conference in Kano and proclaimed that the killings in Benue were a continuation of 1804 jihad, it didn’t come from me; it came from them.“I called for the arrest of these people because they were making hate speeches and displaying impunity over this country. I reported them to security agencies and expected that they should have been arrested. I was just repeating that.

“Garba Shehu cannot tell me where I will go and do my campaigns. If I am in churches, I will also go to the mosque and respect the Muslims for who they are. I respect the churches; that is my background as a Christian,” Ortom asserted.

The governor reiterated that while on his campaigns, he talked about issues of the campaign and avoided hate speech.“If they are insisting on hate speech, they should go and arrest FUNAM and Miyetti Allah members who made that statement and are going around doing all sorts of illegal things, creating hate and confusion among Nigerians, yet nobody says anything; rather you hear agents of government come out to back them,” he stated.He vowed not to keep quiet until justice, equity and fairness reign in the country.