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Ortom: Morro Pleads with Opposition

 

BY TAIWO FAROTIMI

Abba Morro, former minister has appealed to all who have petitioned against the re-election of Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State to withdraw their petitions in the interest of the state.
He made the appeal as Ortom was sworn in for the second term of office in the capital, Makurdi. On his part, Senator David Mark, former Senate president who did not seek re-election during the last exercise said the best way for the governor to appreciate the love and support of the people for him was to improve on his achievements in the new dispensation.
Dr. Iyorchia Ayu also a former Senate president agreed with Mark, adding that the popular support for Ortom was a demonstration of the determination of people of the state and the spirit of love for justice. He said, “We Benue people are not a conquered people and will never be conquered. This is because of our unity.”
Ortom who faced a strong opposition from his former party the All Progressives Congress, APC had to decamp to the People’s Democratic Party, PDP to seek re-election. Convinced that he had committed political suicide, George Akume, former governor and Ortom’s estranged godfather gave a mock apology at a political rally begging the people of Benue to forgive him for foisting the governor on them. He said he assumed, wrongly as it turned out, that the man was going to do well.
But the major offence of the governor was his insistence to enforce a law passed by the State House of Assembly for herdsmen to register and comport themselves in the state. The law became necessary following killings by the herdsmen who also destroy farms thus attacking the very foundation of a state described the food basket of the nation. The attacks became so much at a time that the state became the poster state for illustrating the atrocities of the herdsmen in the country. On a day the state buried 72 victims of such attacks.
The voters in Benue may have been disappointed that the APC government at the centre did not show enough empathy for their plight. The consideration at that point was not how much had been done in terms of achievement but who among the leaders had shown shared their grief. They felt Ortom was there for them.

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