Ortom arrived at the Makurdi zonal office of the anti-graft agency, located at Alor Gordon Street, at 10 a.m. on Tuesday.

the former governor was invited to be questioned concerning an ongoing investigation into alleged financial misappropriation during his tenure as an official.

“Former governor Ortom is currently at our Makurdi zonal office in Benue State. He arrived at about 10 a.m. this morning, and he’s still there now. He was invited over an ongoing investigation concerning alleged misappropriation of funds during his time in office,” an impeccable source said.

The spokesperson for the EFCC, Wilson Uwujaren, didn’t respond to phone calls and text messages sent to his phone concerning the development

Ortom disclosed this at the end of the state security council meeting on Tuesday after over 130 persons were gruesomely killed across the state within one week.

He said the suspension was to show a good fate to all those who claimed to have come into the state without knowing there is Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law of 2017 that is solely anti-grazing.

He also said security agencies in the state have confirmed the receipt of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.)’s directive to fish out perpetrators of the mass killings across the state.

He beseeched the security agencies to act fast on the matter in order to bring victims of the attack some form of justice.

Wike of Rivers State, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu), Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia), Samuel Ortom (Benue), and Seyi Makinde (Oyo) pulled out of the PDP Presidential Campaign Council last year, insisting that except the National Chairman of the party, Iyorchia Ayu, quits his position, they wouldn’t have anything to do with the campaigns.

Ayu would wield the big stick after the polls to demonstrate the supremacy of the party in line with the PDP constitution.

A member of the PDP National Executive Committee and former governor of a North-West state told our correspondent in confidence that the action of the aggrieved governors infuriated party stakeholders across the board, warning that failure to call them to order would raise a lot of questions from loyal members of the party.

The NEC member said, “We watched every day how these leaders ridiculed the party. Nobody said they had no reasons to be aggrieved, but we generally agreed that there were other ways to speak on the issues than the way they did.

When the elders (Board of Trustees) intervened, we all thought the crisis was over, but it only got worse. We expect some sanctions, although the leadership of the party will set in motion what to do with them.

“At the NEC, it was nothing short of a disgrace to wake up to see governors dancing not in solidarity with their party, but with rival parties to cast aspersions on the same PDP that catapulted them to national prominence.

“It’s a good thing that Ayu is focused on the elections, but we would like to see what happens after that.”

When reached for comment, Ibrahim Abdullahi, the PDP’s Deputy National Publicity Secretary, refused to confirm or deny the fate of the Integrity Group, telling our correspondent that “we will wait until it is confirmed” what the party intends to do.

The biggest indication of what lies ahead for the Wike-led group came from the Deputy National Youth Leader of the party, Timothy Osadolor, who told The PUNCH that sanction for the aggrieved governors “is not a question of if but when.”

Osadolor stated, “How else could they have worked against the party than they have already? If they didn’t know that there would be sanctions, they wouldn’t be running to their states’ High Courts to procure ex-parte orders, but they are merely buying time.

“They know that they have erred, and the full wrath of the law will fall upon them. It’s not a matter of if, but of when.”
Osadolor added, “When the dust of elections is over, the party will revisit the issue. The party is supreme. Head or tail, their issue will be treated.”

Following Ayu’s refusal to go and the PDP candidate, Atiku Abubakar’s apparent non-interest in the sacking of the former Senate President, the governors have since pitched their tents with their preferred presidential candidates.

While Makinde and Wike were said to be allegedly working for the All Progressives Congress candidate, Bola Tinubu, Ortom has openly endorsed the candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, even as Ikpeazu and Ugwuanyi are reportedly torn between Atiku and Obi.

Ortom stated this when he received in audience the Director-General of the Administrative Staff College of Nigeria, Mrs Cecilia Gayya, who was represented by Goodluck Audu.

The governor said having foreseen the danger herdsmen invasion on communities might pose to the nation, he decided to raise the alarm and his administration came up with the anti-open grazing law.

He said his allegiance was to his people and lamented that he faced dead threats as a result, but was not afraid of death.

Ortom stated, “At 61, I am no longer afraid of death; in fact, I have prepared my will so that if I die, my people will not fight over my property.I feel so sad when I try to make public what is happening in Benue State and people castigate me and insult me. But I remain committed to serving my people.And of course, I was not elected to preside over IDPs and dead people. And if something is beyond me, at least, I can raise the alarm for others to come and help me to solve this problem.”

He accused the Federal Government of complicity in the security problem in the country.

The Governor who is very critical of the Buhari-led administration, said this when he spoke after signing the amended Benue State Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law of 2017 in Makurdi, the state capital, on Thursday, January 20.

He said all was not well with the country and there is every need for the President to listen to the cries of Nigerians and come up with policies that would mitigate the economic hardship in the country.

According to the governor “Corrupt people that are in the government are deceiving you the President. But I must tell you the truth that all is not well. You need to listen to us, you need to listen to the voice of the masses who elected you, because they may have been deceived, now we are sorry that we elected you as President of this country. Somebody explained to me that they got 5,000 sacks of rice and put them on pyramidal and claimed you have achieved something, but you have not achieved anything. The people behind these things are deceitful, they are telling the President lies. That fake rice pyramid, is that what will help Nigeria? Introduce policies that will help us improve our agriculture and economy. The first thing you will do is to chase away the marauding Fulani men who are your kinsmen to stop harassing us so that we can farm and produce enough rice for Nigeria and Nigerians. This government has not fought corruption the way we expected them to do since 2015. All the people they are prosecuting are just perceived, enemies. The fight is selective, there are former governors in the present cabinet who should be facing trial for corruption but they are not. So which corruption are they fighting? Let us do the right thing; let us stick to the provisions of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, let us ensure fairness, equity and justice for everybody then things would work”

Governor Ortom tackled the President in a message issued today December 18 on the occasion of the President’s 79th birthday which was on Friday, December 17.

In the birthday message signed by his media aide, Nathaniel Okyur, the governor said the insecurity being experienced in all parts of the country is not what the president promised when he assumed office in 2015. The governor, who said he loves President Buhari, urged the president to stop listening to sycophants as all is not well with Nigeria.

“I join your family, friends, political associates and all Nigerians to congratulate you on the occasion of your 79th birthday. To some, the president is a father, to others, grandfather while yet to others, he is a great grandfather who should understand that Nigeria at the moment is collapsing due to the activities of terrorists who have continued to destroy the very foundation of the unity of this country. Daily, people are slaughtered like animals either on their farms, at home or roasted to death while travelling from one destination to another with video clips showing the faces of the killers. Yet, no one has been arrested. The roads have become booby traps where the citizenry are scared to travel on, for the fear that they may be kidnapped for ransom or in some cases killed outrightly. It is an open secret that no one is safe in this country any longer. The president should not listen to sycophants who may not be telling him the truth that all is well. All is not well with Nigeria right now, Mr President. You must therefore take urgent steps now to pull the nation back from the precipice before it is too late.”

In a statement released on Friday, August 20 by Governor Samuel Ortom’s spokesperson, Terver Akase, after President Buhari approved the constitution of a committee to review ‘with dispatch’ the 368 grazing sites across 25 states in the country, the presidency was accused of being bothered about animals and their safety and deploying all machinery and arsenals of government to impose grazing reserves and cattle routes on Nigerians, at a time when insecurity has reached an all-time high with hundreds being killed by armed herdsmen, bandits and other terrorists.

The presidency was also accused of trying to plunge the country into an avoidable crisis. The statement read “We were shocked and disappointed to read a statement from the Presidency indicating that President Muhammadu Buhari has approved recommendations of a committee to review ‘with dispatch,’ 368 grazing sites, across 25 states in the country, to determine the levels of encroachment. In a country where insecurity has reached an all-time high with hundreds being killed by armed herdsmen, bandits and other terrorists, the Presidency is only bordered on animals and their safety and is deploying all machinery and arsenals of government to impose grazing reserves and cattle routes on Nigerians. This is unacceptable! It is now clear that the president wants to plunge the country into an avoidable crisis. Otherwise, what is the justification for President Buhari’s insistence that grazing reserves be established across the country when Nigerians have openly kicked against the policy and have embraced ranching in place of open grazing? The Buhari administration does not seem to be worried about the food crisis already ravaging the country. Farmers have been chased into IDP camps by herders and children are dying of starvation, yet what is more important to their President is the well being of cows. We expected the pitiable condition of the displaced people to be the preoccupation of the President whom they voted for in 2015 and 2019. It is unfortunate that the people’s love, trust and votes for Mr President are being rewarded with hate, cruelty and dictatorial policies aimed at grabbing their lands to donate to herders and cows. What is the difference between the Buhari administration’s approach to insecurity and the Taliban agenda in Afghanistan? It is now evident that the government at the centre prioritizes the welfare of cattle over human beings and is bent on taking Nigeria back to the precolonial era. The country has been turned into a cow republic by the present administration. The Federal Government introduced the National Livestock Transformation Plan (NLTP) and Nigerians accepted the policy. Why has the Buhari administration dumped the programme and opted for grazing reserves and cattle routes? Governor Samuel Ortom has repeatedly stated that there is no land for grazing reserves or cattle routes in Benue State. Though the Federal Government craftily concealed the names of states where Mr President has ordered that grazing reserves be foisted on the people, we wish to categorically state that no part of Benue will be allocated for grazing reserves or cattle routes! If President Buhari must actualize his cattle agenda in Benue State, he should be ready to kill all of us! We know that grazing reserves and cattle routes are the only projects that the President has for Nigeria, but Benue is not interested in such a project.”

On why PDP governors are defecting to APC, Ortom told sunnewsonline

He said “You know in politics as defined by one of our greatest philosophers in our time, that politics is a game of interest; no permanent enemy, no permanent friend. People are free to defect to any political party for whatever reason that they find expedient. I was in PDP when things did not go down well with me, I defected to APC and I won the election in 2015 and several other people were carried on my back due to my defecting to APC and won. In 2017, when things did not go well and I was defending my people and some people felt that I should not defend my own people, I defected back to PDP and also won the election. So I have no issue with those defecting here and there. But the only challenge is that let those people come clean because you heard the former National Chairman of APC say that when you defect to APC, you will become a saint; even if you are a devil, you will become a saint. And so people who have mismanaged themselves and mismanaged public property are afraid. And that’s the instrument that the Federal Government is using on our people. They came to me and I said no, I have no skeleton. Let them bring it out. If you don’t do well, I will take you to court and we dig it out there. You have also heard about a minister in the federal republic of Nigeria, the current minister serving today who has embezzled a lot of money and bought an estate for $37million and $20million was recovered from her house. And up till today, we have been calling on the presidency to expose that Minister and let there be justice. But have you heard anything from the presidency? And even the EFCC, I want to challenge the EFCC Chairman, he is a young man, he should stand on his integrity and what he told us when he was confirmed. Let there be justice, equity and fairness. He should unearth that Minister; it is not enough to say a serving Minister. Let him come out to tell us who that Minister is and how far he is going about the investigation. We have heard about several former Governors who were being prosecuted by the EFCC but today because they are in the APC, everything is silent. What kind of justice are you talking about in this country? What kind of integrity is the presidency talking about? The presidency should come out and tell us if his hands are clean. He that comes to equity must come with clean hands. Where are Mr President’s clean hands in this matter that we are talking about? How can you accommodate people who are perceived to have criminal tendencies in your government and tell me that nothing is happening? It is not fair. This is not the Nigeria we bargained for. This is not what Mr President stood for in 2015 that prompted Nigerians to vote for him

Ortom in a statement released by his media aide Terver Akase alleged that the Kaduna state Governor is a sycophant, ethnic champion and religious bigot who hates anyone who does not share the same faith with him.

The statement read “We read the statement credited to Kaduna State Governor, Nasir el-Rufai in which he accused Governor Samuel Ortom of using the insecurity in his state to attack the Federal Government in order to cover up what he termed as the Benue State Governor’s failure. We want to believe that El-Rufai was wrongly quoted. A man who has failed in several aspects as Governor of Kaduna has no moral justification to accuse another Governor. A Governor who has divided the good people of Kaduna against one another by not hiding his hatred of indigenes of the state on account of religion and ethnicity is not qualified to judge another Governor on any issue whatsoever. A Governor who chose a Muslim deputy in a state where Christians have a huge population is certainly not one to preach unity and peaceful co-existence. El-Rufai’s attack on Governor Ortom is merely to make him look good before the Presidency. He has apparently fallen out of favour at the Villa and wants to use Governor Ortom as a launchpad back to reckoning. How has he handled his own problems in Kaduna? This is a man who has insulted almost every prominent Nigerian including the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and former President Olusegun Obasanjo; a man who is his former boss and one who brought him to the limelight. Nigerians have not forgotten the unprintable things El-Rufai said during Goodluck Jonathan’s time as President. He insulted the then President and publicly supported terrorists attacking parts of the country. His statements on the abduction of Chibok girls and several other acts of terrorism are still fresh in our minds. El-Rufai is on record to have said repeatedly that Fulani people must retaliate for any wrong done to them no matter how long it takes. Is Governor Ortom responsible for El-Rufai’s inability to ensure peace in Kaduna State where bandits have taken over some communities while kidnappings and killings occur on daily basis? El-Rufai admitted to paying Fulani herdsmen whom he invited from other West African countries in the name of stopping attacks in Southern Kaduna. Since he made the confessional statement, attacks on the people of Southern Kaduna have escalated. This is why he wants men of good conscience like Governor Ortom to be silent to pave way for the conquest and expansion agenda to succeed. Kidnapping has become a common crime in Kaduna State under Nasir el-Rufai.  Aside from the much-celebrated cases, it has been estimated that at every given time, not less than 300 persons are abducted in Kaduna by kidnappers who are always identified as El-Rufai’s kinsmen. He pays them billions to embolden them. He has turned the state into one of the most unsafe places to live in Nigeria today. Talking about taking someone seriously, if other Nigerians take El-Rufai seriously, we in Benue do not do the same. A man who has no regard for humanity does not deserve our attention. Nasir el-Rufai is a sycophant, ethnic champion and religious bigot who hates anyone who does not share the same faith with him. He is among the very few persons who have misled President Muhammadu Buhari. El-Rufai is one of the real enemies of this country who do not hide their divisive tendencies by elevating nepotism and ethnicity above the good values that have held Nigeria together over the decades. Nasir el-Rufai doesn’t possess the credentials to counsel anyone on payment of salaries and the welfare of workers. This is a Governor who recently sacked 4,000 workers for no just cause. He ought to be ashamed of himself. What happened to the lofty promises he made to the Kaduna people in 2015? The Kaduna Governor should know that only two days ago, the people of Benue State met at stakeholders meeting in Makurdi and unanimously passed a vote of confidence on Governor Ortom in recognition of his performance. That meeting was attended across party lines with leaders of All Progressives Congress, APC also present. El-Rufai and his conspirators must note that Benue State will not repeal the Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law, no matter the amount of blackmail, hatred and threats they wage against Governor Ortom. We advise the Kaduna State Governor to focus on addressing the numerous problems he has created in his state and leave Governor Ortom to lead Benue in peace”.

Speaking after a video of Ortom addressing protesters after some killings in Benue State was played during a webinar organised by the Africa Leadership Group, El-Rufai stated that the Benue state Governor is not someone he takes seriously.

El-Rufai said “I did not hear what Governor Ortom said (in the video) but I know him and he is not somebody I take very seriously, frankly. He has other issues of governance that he is using the Federal Government as a punching bag to distract attention from his failures. Go and find out how many months’ salaries are being owed by teachers and public servants in Benue State then you can understand a lot of what Ortom is doing. We have a serious national problem. I wouldn’t say we are totally helpless but we are in a situation where the Armed Forces and the police have lost significant confidence in themselves and their institutions”