By Terfa Naswem
Rt. Hon. Mrs. Dorothy Mato joined the All Progressives Congress (APC) leader of Benue State, North Central and Senator representing Benue North West Senatorial District, Dist Sen. (Dr) George Akume and other APC Stakeholders in Benue State yesterday to welcome President Muhammadu Buhari to Benue State.
The presidential jet that conveyed the president and his entourage touched down at Makurdi airport at about 10:45am
The Governor of Benue State Samuel Ortom was also one of those who welcomed Buhari at the airport. He also paid a courtesy call on the Tor Tiv, Prof. James Ayatse and met with Ortom and others Benue leaders at the Government House before proceeding to Aper Aku Stadium for the presidential campaign rally.
The President in company of Sen. George Akume and others arrived at the venue of the rally.
The rally which took place at Aper Aku Stadium in Makurdi Benue state where supporters of Buhari and APC were in their thousands and the excited crowd applauded Buhari and declared to re-elect him in the presidential election on February 16, 2019.
The Benue State Chairman of APC, Comrade Abba Yaro welcomed President Buhari to Benue State and called on the people to support Buhari to win his re-election.
Sen.George Akume said Ortom has declared war on APC as he has used his office to promote injustice by unjustly removing APC local government chairmen and using the Livestock Guard to further create political instability.
He stressed the need for the needful to be done in providing adequate security because Benue APC rally was disrupted in Ortom’s village, Gbagimba in Guma Local government council of Benue State by some Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) thugs who were armed in which one person killed and many others injured.
Akume made it clear that Buhari loves the people of Nigeria and Benue State and is concerned about their well-being. That was why he gave Ortom all the funds that was needed to clear the backlog of salaries, gratuities and pensions but Ortom refused to do so. How then can one say Buhari does not love the Benue people?
According to him, the Fulani herdsmen killings have been politicized by Ortom because of the fact that he refused to pay salaries and is using that as excuses for him incompetence.
The Governor of Plateau State, Simon Lalong urged the good people of Benue State to continue to have faith in APC as Buhari is doing his best to fix Nigeria. He expressed sadness over Ortom’s refusal to clear the backlog of salaries, gratuities and pensions even when he was given more than enough money by Buhari to do so.
He posits that since Ortom has nothing to show for for his abysmal leadership, he is using Fulani herdsmen killings to get sympathy and make the salary issue less important.
The National Chairman of APC, Comrade Adams Oshiomole admonished the people of Benue State to support and vote for Rt. Hon. Emmanuel Jime to become the next governor of Benue State so that he would clear the backlog of salaries, gratuities and pensions and also execute many other projects.
According to him, Buhari has done a lot to reposition the economy of Nigeria and Buhari should be voted to continue with the good work. That if Alhaji Atiku Abubakar is allowed to become the president of Nigeria, he will do more harm than good to Nigerian economy.
In his speech, President Buhari thanked the good people of Benue State for the support they showed to him. That his government is centred on promoting the overall well-being of Nigerians and would continue to do more in the areas of improving on the economy, food security, the fight against corruption among others.
He urged the people of Benue State to vote Jime to become the next governor of Benue State who will bring the desired change to Benue State.
Buhari and Oshiomole raised the hands of Jime as a sign of acceptance and call for support and votes for him in his gubernatorial election on March 2, 2019.
