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2023 elections unlikely if insecurity persists: Ortom

Mr Ortom on Tuesday told reporters at the Presidential Villa that the country is sitting on a keg of gun powder without meaningful progress being made on the issue of security.

• March 23, 2021
Samuel Ortom (Credit: Benue State Government Website)
Benue State governor, Samuel Ortom (Credit: Benue State Government Website)

Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom has predicted that the 2023 election will not hold if insecurity persists in the country.

The governor’s assertion comes three days after he was attacked at Tyo Mu along Makurdi/Gboko road in Makurdi Local Government Area of the state by gunmen suspected to be herdsmen.

Mr Ortom on Tuesday told reporters at the Presidential Villa that the country is sitting on a keg of gun powder without meaningful progress being made on the issue of security.

While debunking rumours of faking his attack, the governor noted that the 15 gunmen who attack him on his way to his farm were not staged-managed.

He, however, urged Nigerians not to politicise the issue of attempted assassination on his person. He , however, called for the provisions of the constitution to be protected to enable equity, fairness, and justice in the country.

The governor accused the President Buhari led-administration of allowing immunity to fester, urging the federal authorities to immediately prosecute anyone found culpable of breaching the law.

He said “the demand by the cattle breeders association, Miyetti Allah, to repeal the law would be impossible to fulfill, because it went through due process, hence the matter is clearly beyond him”, praying his recent experience should not happen to anyone.

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