‘Don’t blame Buhari for the mess you made Benue’ – presidency hits Ortom

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The Presidency asked Samuel Ortom, Governor of Benue, not to blame President Muhammadu Buhari for the challenges faced in the state.

In a recent interview with Arise Television, Ortom said that the All Progressive Congress (APC) had bankrupted Nigeria and the citizens regretted voting Buhari in power.

On allegations of non-payment of wages to Benue workers, Ortom had said that he had inherited more than N70 billion in arrears of pensions, wages and gratuities from his predecessor and despite this he was doing his best.

But reacting to Ortom’s comments in a statement on Tuesday, Garba Shehu, presidential spokesman, said there are two types of policies – those that offer solutions to the challenges facing the country and those that offer excuses.” and instead blame others for problems they have not solved or have created for themselves”.

Shehu went on to say that Ortom is an example of the second class of politicians who blame others for challenges.

He said Ortom “inherited unpaid wages and pension arrears” and rather than finding a way to raise funds to pay them, “he blamed the president.”

“President Muhammadu Buhari is a leader. He inherited a treasury that had been emptied by successive previous administrations – and he sought and succeeded in repatriating billions of dollars in funds stolen overseas,” the statement said.

“And the President presented the first and only plan to resolve farmer-pastoralist clashes in 100 years, helping states rediscover grazing reservations and create ranching lands that have successfully reduced tensions while enhancing harmony and saving lives.

“This is a president who has not failed to pay the salaries of those who work for the federal government and declared the failure of the states to do so; a national disaster.

“To avoid this, he had, on several occasions, lent money to states for more than 1.682 billion naira, and Benue, Mr. Ortom’s state, did not fail on all occasions: bailout salaries, crude surplus loan and budget support loan, each repayable in 20 years.

“Mr. Ortom, a public servant who has collected on all occasions, currently holds the longest record in the country for unpaid salaries and pensions, has no reason, absolutely no reason, to blame President Buhari for the mess in which he put his state and his workers.”

Shehu said that since Ortom claimed his predecessors created the arrears, it was up to him to prove he was better by paying the salaries quickly.

“Instead of doing that, he joined them! And as he racks up even more salary and pension debt on top of those bequeathed to him, instead of respecting the voters who elected him, he publicly attacks them with unprintable words and has created his own militia of thugs to harass and rape them,” Shehu said.

“Governor now says voters want to be ‘rescued by PDP’ and ‘regret voting for Buhari.’ Voters, of course, won’t be asked to vote again for the president because – as leader – President Buhari and the All Progressives Congress, APC, respect term limits and the constitution, and will step down next year at the end of his second democratically elected term.

“However, it seems unlikely that a voter would seriously consider being ‘saved’ by a party that would now accept a politician like Governor Ortom into its ranks.

“What is certain, however, is that Nigeria is tired of failed politicians who blame others as a diversion for their failure to improve the lives of citizens.”

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