Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State, on Monday, called on President Muhammadu Buhari to urgently resign from his office and hand over power to his vice, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo.
Ortom, who made the call at a press conference in Makurdi, said the president failed Nigerians in all areas of his electoral promises, especially with the worsening insecurity in the country.
Ortom is one of the prominent critics of the President Buhari-led government, especially on matters of security and the economy of the country.
“The Federal Government has completely failed and I want to call on President Muhammadu Buhari to accept the fact that he has failed this country and I want to advise him to honourably resign as president of Nigeria.
“Yes, he can resign and hand over to his deputy to handle the affairs of this country. Otherwise, this country will be going down,” he said.
The governor lamented the continued killings going on in his home local government of Guma and other parts of the state by suspected herders militia as well as banditry snuffing lives out of citizens in parts of the country.
He said it had become unreasonable to continue to cry for help without any decisive actions taken by the federal government to end the menace of invasions on Benue villages, adding that his people are now ready to take up arms prescribed by the law to defend themselves.
“I was part of those who worked for President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015 based on the promises he gave to us that he would be president for everybody and for nobody.
“But, today we have seen clearly that he is president for Fulani people. So, every day we have seen the level of nepotism going on in this country.
“I know that it’s is happening in other states of the federation but I’m talking about my state where I’m elected as governor to provide good governance and security for lives and property.
“So, I talk about these things. It’s unfortunate and I pray for my colleagues and people of various states that let God help us. And more than praying, we must act because for me as a student of the Bible I know that faith without work is dead. So action must be taken.
“I’m going to take my action, I have consulted with my people and I know what to do which is not for public consumption.
“We are going to take decisive action because enough is enough.
“We have cried enough and no more crying. After those press conferences, I’m not going to tell anybody about how many people have been killed in any of my local governments any longer.
“We will take steps and complement the security agencies but we are not going to compromise our peace and security again. This is enough.
“The 1.5million people I have in the camps were chased away from their homes by those terrorist people.
“The security men have done their best from 2017 to date, more than 100 security personnel have been killed. They are doing their best and I must admit that they are grossly inadequate, he added.
Ortom maintained that the country under Buhari leadership is on the verge of collapsing with its economy nosediving daily while corruption stinks to the high heaven.
He blamed the allies of the president for not telling him the truth about the state of the nation even as he advised the Economic Financial Crime Commission (EFCC)’s head not to allow politicians to use him to settle scores.
“They can insult me, send EFCC to come after me. If they come here, I will take you (EFCC) to court again and by the grace of God defeat you like I defeated you before,” he said.