Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom has backed the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Bishop Matttew Kukah, on ugly events in Nigeria under President Muhammadu Buhari.
Kukah had during a recent virtual presentation with the US Congress in Washington on the persecution of Christians in Nigeria by Islamic extremist groups in the Northern Region, accused Buhari’s government of nepotism.
He also said that attacks on Christians in Nigeria have risen in recent years.
The Presidency has since responded to the claim by Kukah, describing him as a liar.
In a statement by Garba Shehu, a Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, the Presidency said it was unfortunate and disappointing for citizens of Nigeria to bear witness to one of their churchmen castigating their country in front of representatives of a foreign parliament.
But commenting on the matter, Ortom said that the response of the Presidency was unfortunate.
The Benue State governor, in a statement this weekend released by his Chief Press Secretary, Terver Akase, said Bishop Kukah was right about what he said about Nigeria under Buhari’s administration.
He said, “Kukah was right when he stated that nepotism has been elevated above federal character by the present administration.
“It is also true that Christians across the country are targets of elimination and thousands have already fallen to the sword of jihadist supremacists.
“However, Kukah is not to blame for the ranking of Nigeria as the 8th least peaceful country in Africa and the rating of killer herdsmen as the 4th deadliest terror group in the world by the Global Terrorism Index.
“I expected the Presidency to rather be worried that Nigeria is ranked as the most terrorised nation in Africa with an average of over 2,000 deaths per year on account of terrorism.”
Noting that Kukah was not the first Nigerian to address a foreign audience on the insecurity in Nigeria, Ortom recalled how in February 2015, President Buhari, who was at the time the candidate of All Progressives Congress, in a speech he delivered a at the Chatham House in London, told his foreign audience that ‘Boko Haram has sadly put Nigeria on the terrorism map, killing more than 13,000 of our nationals.’
He added, “The President (Buhari) went on to announce to the world on that occasion that apart from the civil war era, Nigeria had never been more insecure in the country’s history.
“If a man who was seeking to govern the country could reel out such scary statistics, why will his aides now launch media attacks on a clergyman who is only advocating peace and is drawing the attention of the global community to the plight of helpless Nigerians.”
According to Ortom, the Buhari-led government should make it also arrest and prosecute members of armed Fulani groups for killing innocent Nigerians the same manner it did to the leader of Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, and Yoruba nation agitator, Sunday Igboho.