Governor Ortom calls on Buhari to stand down with a year to go and hand over to Osinbajo

GOVERNOR Samuel Ortom of Benue State has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to stand down ahead of the expiration of his term on office and hand over to vice president Professor Yemi Osinbajo to save the nation from total collapse.

Re-elected for second four year term in 2019, President Buhari is due to leave office next year but in the run-up to the polls, Governor Ortom has suggested he step aside a year early. Governor Ortom, who defected from President Buhari's All Progressives Congress to the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party in 2029, said the president lacks the capacity to rescue the country from its worsening economic and security predicaments.

Governor Ortom said: “Since the inception of our country Nigeria, even before the independence we have never witnessed this kind of nepotism that is going on. We have never witnessed this level of disunity in our country, we have never seen this level of insecurity and we have never seen this kind of economic downturn the way we have it today.

“I am a grassroots person, so I appreciate the feelings of the people out there. I feel so sad and I also pity the president of our country because those surrounding him are deceiving him and he is not aware of the plight of our people.

"The basic responsibility of any government we were told is the provision of security for lives and property and the level of insecurity in the country today is worrisome. Those people who are complacent and living in their comfort zones without looking at the reality of what is happening in our country today should have a rethink.

"It is really unfortunate that I have over 1.5m internally displaced persons in Benue State out of the projected 7m population. As if that is not enough, everyday you wake up to the news that Fulanis with the consent of the federal government have decided to make life unbearable for my people in Benue State.

"So, the federal government has completely failed and I want to call on our president, Muhammadu Buhari to accept the fact that he has failed this country and I want to advise him to honourably resign. He can resign and hand over to his vice to handle the affairs of this country otherwise this country is going down.

This country belongs to all of us, it is not about a Fulani president as we have had Fulani presidents like President Shagari and President Yar’adua. The issue today is about incompetence, it is about non-performance, it is about barefooted leadership, it is about lame-duck, it is about somebody without a vision and direction to lead our country."