Security: Choosing Between Ortom and Alia

Samuel Ortom has gone down in history as the Benue State Governor who faced the worst security challenges in his 8 years rule – between 2015 and 2023. This was largely because a Fulani man (Muhammadu Buhari) was the President of Nigeria at the time and his kinsmen were emboldened to take up arms against other Nigerians in a bid to forcefully and illegally usurp their ancestral lands and occupy.

Governor Ortom led the charge against the agenda of the Fulani to take over parts of Benue State and turn to their own lands. His boldness irked President Buhari who made no pretense about his hatred for Ortom. The Benue State Governor was victimized, vilified, was denied access to funds that his counterparts in other states were given and was almost killed in an assassination attempt. This was after several attempts by the Buhari government to impeach Governor Ortom had failed.

Governor Ortom was severely probed by federal government agencies, particularly the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). It was strangely the first time in the history of this country that a sitting Governor’s security votes were being probed. It took another courageous outing by Governor Ortom to halt the probe. He demanded that President Buhari should make public the records of all the funds his administration had spent on security. That was a bombshell! The presidency went mute!

Governor Ortom’s travails were many. Even Commissioners of Police deployed to Benue State were anti Ortom and some of them refused to cooperate with him.
All these were happening because Governor Ortom refused to betray his people and accept the Fulani occupation agenda.

Despite the threats to his life, the intimidation and outright deprivation, Governor Ortom remained unmoved. His dogged stance eventually paid off as many Nigerians began to make sense of his advocacy against open grazing of animals and the introduction of ranches. He went on to enact a law to ban open grazing in Benue State to the chagrin of Fulani expansionists.

The anti-open grazing law gave birth to Livestock Guards as the enforcement agency, and in a short time of their existence, Fulani pastoralists began an exodus of Benue State with their herds of cattle. Though the herders were still sponsoring some attacks against Benue communities, it became a guerrilla warfare as the pastoralists were no longer inhabiting the state to graze freely on farms.

The hatred towards Ortom from Buhari and his Fulani brothers persisted till the 2023 elections. They had not forgiven him. They lost the battle to occupy Benue lands but they had one last opportunity for revenge against Ortom – to ensure that he lost his Senatorial election. They succeeded by using money and other gifts to induce some of his people to betray him. They militarized the elections in Benue North West Senatorial District and manipulated it to “defeat” Ortom. He refused to challenge the outcome of the election in court, despite calls by his supporters and admirers to do so.

Now entered Ortom’s successor, Governor Hyacinth Alia who enjoyed massive support of Fulani elites and the herders in the bush. Governor Alia promised during the campaigns that if elected, he would end all forms of insecurity in the state and return the over two million displaced people to their homelands.

Surprisingly, a few days after Alia was sworn in as governor, Fulani herders who had fled from Benue with their cattle to neighbouring states like Nasarawa and Taraba began to return. When asked why they were back to Benue State, the Fulani excitedly replied that the new governor asked them to return. As expected, attacks on innocent Benue people resumed. The herders were back to their familiar “trade”.

Governor Alia had on assumption of duty, rendered the Livestock Guards redundant and later converted their impoundment trucks to cargo vehicles for the state owned transport company Benue Links. The anti-open grazing law was apparently suspended by the Alia administration.

When the attacks and killing of Benue people increased and pressure began to mount on Governor Alia whose silence was unsettling, the Governor issued a 14-day ultimatum for Fulani herders to leave the state. But the ultimatum produced no effect and even the government showed no seriousness towards its proclamation. Days ran into weeks and weeks into months, but no herder left and no cow left the state while the attacks persisted.

Governor Alia, in the most shocking display, began to blame Benue people whom he accused of being the aggressors and cattle rustlers. He said Fulani herders only attack whenever their cattle are killed or stolen. Even the herders were pleasantly surprised to hear their friend governor Alia make such a statement.

Under Alia’s governorship, there has been glaring capital flight out of the state. Unlike Governor Ortom who heavily patronized Benue indigenous construction companies, Alia has been awarding all major contracts to his main financier, the former Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir el Rufai. Reliable sources say this was part of the agreement the Benue governor had with the Fulani elite before they gave him billions of naira for campaign. El Rufai is handling the construction projects in Benue State through his proxies to recoup the funds he and his group spent on Alia’s 2023 campaign. The indigenous companies have been abandoned by the Alia government.

Benue people are beginning to draw comparisons between Alia and Ortom who they nostalgically said had put his life on the line and sacrificed his political career to protect them. The people instantly saw a wide gulf of difference between Alia and Ortom.

Indeed, the difference between Ortom and Alia in the area of security is too big for comparison. Security is a pre-requisite for development as a whole because it creates an enabling environment for the fundamentals of societal growth. You may provide all the infrastructure and other aspects of development but if your people are not safe, such strides are a waste.

Ortom was a governor who constantly said that he was not elected to preside over dead people. He confronted and resisted oppression against his people. He refused to bow before the god of injustice and damned the consequences. Ortom insisted that his people were not aliens to Nigeria and must therefore be treated with dignity, equity, justice and fairness.

Ortom rose against every move made by Buhari and his government to snatch land from Benue people and hand it to his Fulani expansionists. In whatever form the Buhari presidency brought its land grabbing agenda, whether it was Ruga, cattle colonies, water resources bill etc, Governor Ortom was always the first to alert Nigerians to resist the evil agenda.

Flip to Alia’s era, the current Benue State Governor is fortunate to have a President who has demonstrated that he won’t tolerate the land grabbing agenda of the pastoralists. As we speak, Bello Bodejo, the loquacious President of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore who for many years led the onslaught and opposition against Ortom with the tacit support of President Buhari is now cooling his feet in detention under the President Bola Tinubu administration.

Governor Alia has failed to take advantage of the opportunity and support provided by President Tinubu to end insecurity in the state. The President has been releasing huge sums of money to Benue and other states who are facing security challenges, yet, Governor Alia is doing nothing and saying nothing while his people fall to the sword of the enemy.

The difference between Alia and Ortom is as clear as daylight!

Signed:

Dennis Agema
President
Network For Transparent Governance (NTG)

Oliver Omenka
Secretary General