The Benue state executive Governor and the state mourner-in-chief Samuel Ortom is the most unlucky Governor among the class 2015 Governors. He has released more condolence messages than the Borno state Governor from 2015 till date. According to a 2016 investigation carried out by Premium Times Newspaper more than 1,300 lives were lost to attacks involving Fulani herdsmen in Benue, this figure increased in the year 2017 and in 2018 the numbers have started rolling in.

The new year attack carried out by Fulani herdsmen claimed more than 40 lives with properties worth millions destroyed, the case in Benue is not the first of its kind, it has always been the case in Benue but it has assumed another dimension under Ortom. At the moment, more than 15 local government out of the 23 local government in the state have been attacked by the Fulani herdsmen.

The fact is that things won’t get better anytime soon in Benue. The state Governor knows what to do but he has preoccupied himself with the 2019 elections, it’s on record that as at 2016 Ortom was the first politician to make a public declaration on why Buhari should be re-elected and he also declared that he too will be running for another term and has been campaigning in earnest since then.

A 2017 visit to Benue by this writer shows the governor has stepped up his campaigns as the “Ortomatic 2019” billboards dotted conspicuous locations in the state capital. The Governor is too preoccupied with politics to take necessary actions to stop the rampaging herdsmen. It is not that much of a stretch to suggest that Ortom is also reluctant to act because he doesn’t want to be seen as going against President Buhari who has stayed unsurprisingly complacent in the wake of these attacks but was quick to engage the public when it was his own son who was in the public eye.

As much as Ortom would love to be re-elected, his first and most important duty is protection of lives and properties of Benue state citizens whom are being slaughtered daily by Fulani herdsmen. In this aspect, Ortom has failed, that he will be re-elected in 2019 is left for Benue citizens to decide.

tosin adesina