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A group in Zone B under the auspices of Youth Alliance in Benue State on Friday launched a blistering attack on the Minister of Special Duties and Inter-governmental Affairs, Senator George Akume, saying his loud silence on the incessant attacks and killing of innocent souls in the state by suspected Fulani herdsmen, was an indictment on him.
This followed perceived misrepresentation of the state’s Anti-Open Grazing Law to President Muhammadu Buhari, in which the minister who hails from Benue was alleged to have told the President that Governor Ortom was solely spearheading the anti-open grazing crusade against Fulani herdsmen.
Consequently the youths challenged Akume to conduct a popularity test on the anti-open grazing law to ascertain whether Samuel Ortom had the support of the masses in enacting the law.
In a statement signed by its national President, Comrade Ternenge Bendega, the youths urged the minister to convene a meeting of Benue stakeholders and propose to them that the only way to end the killings was a repeal the Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law.
The statement read in part: “We have watched in shock, the persistent attacks on the person and office of Governor Samuel Ortom by hirelings of the Minister of Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Affairs, George Akume who is a stooge in the hands of Fulani people against his own people. Akume should also ask the stakeholders if Governor Ortom is on his own and not representing their collective position on Ranching. We believe that he will get a good response for Buhari from Benue people.
“The next thing Akume should do, is to ask Benue people if they can pass a vote of confidence on him and President Buhari as they did on Governor Ortom yesterday. We also believe that the response from the people on that suggestion will give him an idea of how Benue is united devoid of political affiliations to resist the attacks on them by Buhari’s kinsmen.
“Akume silence on killings in the state is a loud indictment on himself and those around him who have not advised him. We keep on wondering what offence we have committed against Akume that he now hate Benue so bitterly? Was it a sin to vote him out of the Senate? When he told the whole world that we were the ones killing ourselves and not Fulanis, did he expect us to clap for him? Did he expect us to rejoice and appreciate him?
“This is a man we massively supported to become governor of Benue State in 1999 and after his 8-year tenure, we voted him to go to the Senate without any scorecard to his name. But he chose to inflict pain on us with his Fulani collaborators. So when the time for election came in 2019, we the people of Zone B decided to remove him from the red chamber.
“As a senator, Akume did not move a single motion or sponsored just one bill in 12 years. His “stewardship” in the red chamber was all about local politics of insisting that he must install a Governor for Benue when his colleagues were busy taking big decisions on the national stage. He has continued with such local mentality even now that he is a minister”.
However, Senator Akume could not be reached for comments on the issue as of the time of filing this report as efforts made to reach him were unsuccessful.
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