From Rose Ejembi, Makurdi
Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom has again, blamed the federal government for the current insecurity challenge plaguing the country, insisting that the problem of insecurity in Nigeria today is man made.
Ortom stated this when he played host to a delegation led by the Director General Administrative Staff College of Nigeria (ASCON), Mrs. Cecilia Gayya at the Government House, Makurdi, the state capital on Wednesday.
“The present federal government is responsible because I took proactive steps right from 2016 when I came in and I saw this coming.
“And it will appear to me that this leadership wants to surrender Nigeria to the insurgents. Their action and inaction have proven to me that they are working with the insurgents. That’s the truth,” Ortom said.
While also warning prominent Nigerians who can speak out but have suddenly lost their voices to take heed, the Governor said their continued silence could plunge the country into an irreversible danger.
“And today I am warning Nigerians, especially those who are sitting in their comfort zones, I want them to understand that if we don’t take time, it will happen.
“Last week, one of my colleagues in the north east raised an alarm that ISWAP has taken over part of his state and they are gradually coming in. They are deadly and they have the capacity to overrun this country based on what he saw.
“Like I raised alarm earlier about the challenges we have that if we don’t take time, one day, what happened in Afghanistan, God forbid, will happen in Nigeria.”
“For us here in Benue State, we trust in God and we are looking into God to help us and we are quite committed to ensure that we do the right thing. We remain committed to the provisions of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and we fight for equity, fairness and justice,” he said.
Earlier, Director-General of ASCON, Mrs Cecilia Gayya, disclosed that the college has started training 500 Benue workers.
Gayya who was represented by the Head of Administration, Mr Goodluck Audu, thanked Governor Ortom for approving the training of the 500 workers stressing that the training would equip the civil servants to better discharge their duties creditably.