Samuel Ortom, Governor of Benue State, has said Nigeria is sitting on a keg of gunpowder due to the high spate of insecurity across the country.
Governor Ortom said this to State House correspondents after his meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Tuesday.
The meeting was held three days after the Benue State Governor was attacked by gunmen on his farm in Tyo-Mu community along the Makurdi-Gboko Road, near Makurdi, the state capital, last Saturday.
According to him, no Nigerian is in doubt about the current state of security of the country, insisting that Nigeria cannot have any meaningful development with criminal attacks occurring at a frequent rate.
Governor Ortom disclosed that he had deep discussions with President Buhari on the attack on him and security situation in the country, adding that the President agreed with him that no person or group should be left as sacred cows.
He said: “I want to let Nigerians know, especially those who are responsible for making inflammatory statements; we’re sitting on a keg of gunpowder, everybody’s not in doubt in Nigeria today about the security situation and without security, there can be no meaningful progress going on.
“So, it is important to put heads together, do the things that are lawful, let us protect the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria so that everybody will be secure.”
Governor Ortom stated that he has nothing to benefit from faking the attack, saying that he prays that even his “worst enemies” do not experience what he endured while the attack lasted.
He said he was at the Presidential Villa to thank the president for speaking against the attack and ordering security agencies to carry out a “thorough and transparent investigation”.
He also thanked his fellow governors for uniting to condemn the attack, irrespective of their political affiliations.
