A group called Benue Concerned Citizens have condemned Sen. George Akume over comments he made on Fulani killings in Benue which portrayed Gov. Samuel Ortom as sponsor of the mayhem.
The group, therefore, dissociated itself from such statements maintaining that Akume, by his statement, was not talking for the Tiv people of Benue state.
The group stated this in a press conference speech tagged “Response To Senator Akume’s Allegations Against Governor Ortom And The Benue People”, presented to newsmen in Makurdi, Monday.
The speech read in part “Benue cyberspace has been awash with the uncharitable and otherwise unreasonable statements made by the erstwhile Governor of Benue State, and incumbent Senator of Benue North Central Senatorial District, Senator George Akume.
It noted that Akume, in a litany of ill statements against Governor Samuel Ortom, spared no words that should not be credited to a leader and broke the sanity ladder in order to show his questionable later-day disgust and disdain for Governor.
“A few days ago, Senator Akume, flanked by Oversen Paul Iorpuu Unongu, the self-acclaimed spiritual leader of the Tiv, Emmanuel Jime, Gubernatorial candidate of the APC, Chief Mimi Orubibi, Senatorial candidate of the APC for Benue North East and a host of others paid a visit to the President of Nigeria in Aso Rock, Abuja.
“Senator Akume, in his remarks credited, by innuendoes and direct statements, the killings perpetrated in the Benue Valleys by marauding herdsmen to the people of Benue and wholly pushed the blame to the Governor and his people.
“At a time when our common mettle has been tested and our people violated, young women raped, and children “weaned” from the mothers’ breasts by the dangling axe of the murderers, the Senator would rather play politics and dance on the graves of the fallen.
Speaking on behalf of the group, the Chairman, Tim Nyor called the Sen. to order saying Benue has had enough adding “Our common survival subordinates any political interest or selfish anticipation of federal patronage.
Flanked by other executive members of the group including Bede Batholomew, Tim Nyor said Akume, during his time as Governor, ran one of the worst and infrastructural deficit government anywhere in the Savannah and after his tenure, every single Governor who has complained of not achieving his full potential in office, raised Akume as an alibi.
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The group says the Senator trumps the list of Benue problems and therefore lacks the locus to challenge deficit in government, if there exists any.
“We wish to register our profound dismay at Senator Akume’s desperation and ill-will and to state emphatically that he does not speak for the Tiv people. His words and his numerous gaffes that have for two decades of having him in our polity, characterised his utterances are wholly his.”
The group also expressed worries and concerns over what they called “tacit acquiescence of the APC Gubernatorial aspirant, Hon. Emmanuel Jime,” a man aspiring to govern the state of Benue, especially as he obediently took the backline and watched Akume decimate the same people he is elected to uplift.
“We waited for a disclaimer from him; a statement dissociating himself from that debacle, yet all we get is silence. Sad. We will not forget the people who stood with us neither shall we forget those who stood with the enemy,” the group said.
