Vice President Yemi Osinbajo (SAN) was shocked by a news report
ostensibly quoting the Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom as saying that
the VP was warned of the savage and inhuman killings by alleged
herdsmen in Logo and Guma local government areas which took place on
January 1, 2018.
Although Vice President Osinbajo, does not believe that the
governor could ever have said so, it will be a terrible falsehood to
suggest that the VP was ever informed by the governor or anyone else of
the imminence of the killing of citizens of our country in those or any
other local governments in Benue State.
Governor Ortom wrote to the Vice President, then Acting President,
on 7th June 2017 protesting a newspaper publication where the leadership
of Miyetti Allah was reported to have stated that it was opposed to the
Open Grazing Prohibition law of the State and that they would mobilize
to resist the law.
The Miyetti Allah had written to the Vice President on June 5, 2017
on the same law protesting several sections of the law. The Governor
went on to say that the leadership of Miyetti Allah should be arrested
because they used words such as “wicked, obnoxious and repressive” to
describe the law, and because these were “utterances that are capable of
undermining the peace…”
The Vice President subsequently met with the governor, discussed
the matter and the security situation in the state and then ordered law
enforcement agencies to be on the alert to prevent any attacks or
violence. That was in June 2017!
In the said letter written by the governor, there was no mention of
any threat to anyone of the 23 local governments of Benue State, so the
best the law enforcement agencies could do even then was to await
information or intelligence of an imminent attack. None came. Since then
the VP has held several meetings with the Benue State Governor,
including a visit to the State on September 6 last year at the behest of
Mr. President during the tragic floods in the state last year. At all
such meetings, the Vice President discussed the security situation of
the state with the Governor.
Following that, the then Acting President convened a major national
security retreat which was attended by all state governors, service
chiefs and heads of security agencies. The retreat featured very
detailed discussions on the herdsmen/ farmers’ clashes.
To the best of our knowledge, neither Governor Ortom nor the
Federal Government was aware of the imminence of the cowardly attack on
Logo and Guma on January 1, and therefore any suggestion that the
President or the Vice President ignored the state governor’s warning is
both absolutely false and certainly misleading.
Laolu Akande
Senior Special Assistant on Media & Publicity to the President
Office of the Vice PresidentSource : Tori.ng
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