Rose Ejembi, Makurdi
A former Governor of Benue State, Dr. Gabriel Suswam, has taken a swipe on President Muhammadu Buhari for not visiting Benue State since the invasion of the state by herdsmen which resulted in the gruesome murder and eventual burial of 73 innocent people in the state.
Suswam stated this in a chat with newsmen, on Wednesday, when Governor Nyeson Wike of Rivers State stopped over at his Makurdi residence after he paid a condolence visit on Governor Samuel Ortom and the Benue people.
The former Benue governor, who was reacting to the recent visit of President Buhari to Nasarawa State, said the President should have visited Benue first to commiserate with the government and people of the state over the loss of many innocent lives but he didn’t do that.
In the words of Suswam, “I am not in a position to comment on his visit (to Nasarawa) because I’m not in his party. Secondly, I know that as a President, he must have had his programme outlined for the year but that notwithstanding, the Benue case is an emergency.
“One would expect that a place that lost 73 People at once, he (Buhari) would have been more concerned about visiting such area. One would expect that a responsive government would have visited Benue to condole with the people over the gruesome murder of innocent lives,” Suswam said.
Suswam, who totally condemned the Benue killings, disclosed that he had already sent a condolence message to Governor Ortom, and urging him to convey a meeting with stakeholders across party lines to find a lasting solution to the incessant invasion and killings by herdsmen in the state.
He continued, “I have condemned the killing in totality. I already sent a message encouraging the governor to talk to people across party lines and I’m happy the President has reacted by asking that the perpetrators of the killings be arrested. I think he reacted as a result of the national condemnation of the killings. It’s not good for a country to experience loss of lives like that.”
The former governor also commended Governor Wike for his visit to commiserate with the state government and Benue people over the killing stressing that the gesture was in the spirit of brotherliness and had nothing to do with politics.
Asked if he would be ready to accept Governor Ortom into the PDP fold should he decide to return to the party, the former Governor said, “I’m not the National Chairman or a member of the National Working Committee of the PDP.
“That should be left for the National Working Committee of the party to decide. But the fact is that the fence remains very low so that anyone who wants to come in can easily do that. The good thing is that in Nigeria, party affiliation is based on ideology,” Suswam said.