Benue Youth Forum, says there is a sponsored Media plan by the All Progressives Congress, APC, to attack the Governor of Benue State for establishing Benue State Community Volunteer Guards, BCVG.
In a statement signed by its President Terrence Kuanum, he warned that issues about security and human lives should not be played with using politics.
The statement reads: “a group of youths believed to have been sponsored by the leadership of the All Progressibes Congress, APC in Benue State has planned to address a press conference in Abuja on Friday, 12th August 2022 to discredit Governor Samuel Ortom on the establishment of the Benue State Community Volunteer Guards.
“The group which we understand is sponsored by the enemies of this country who are bent on eliminating Governor Samuel Ortom.
“Leaders of the desperate group are cooking up weird stories against the Benue State Governor with bogus and imaginary claims just to tarnish the good works of the Governor in proferring solutions to tackle insecurity in the state. They are also said to be planning to make spurious allegations during their press conference that the Governor has been responsible for series of attacks on innocent Benue people.
“Their aim is to use the creation of the Benue State Community Volunteer Guard as an excuse to unleash more mayhem on Benue communities to discredit the patriotic institution that is meant to collaborate with the conventional securities in Benue to reduce security challenges faced in Benue to the barest minimum.
“We wish to urge discerning Benue and Nigerians of good will to disregard this group and its manufactured lies. It is not a group known to exist before now. It is an alliance of selfish young men who want to take advantage of the current security situation in Benue State to make monetary gains from the opposition party.
“We also wish to alert Nigerians that more of such press outings should be expected from nondescript groups as “Arewa group”.
“It should be recalled that APC vowed to make Benue State ungovernable for Ortom following their defeat in the last governorship election. What the people are witnessing now including the Sankera violence is in line with the APC ‘vow’ to destabilize the State.
“A few days after the launch of the volunteer guards at a colourful ceremony in Makurdi, the State Pubicity Secretary of the APC issued a statement, condenming the Benue State Governor for taking such a bold step. From the content of the press release, it was obvious where part of the insecurity challenges of the state were coming from.
“The resort to press conferences by the Senator Akume led youths who is bent on destabilising the administration of Governor Ortom is part of the their plot to take attention away from the sham primaries they conducted that has turned their members as regular clients to lawyers therefore making Benue the center of electoral litigations in Nigeria.
“Sadly, Senator Akume who has never raised his voice and to speak for the people of Benue state who gave him opportunity to serve them as Governor for eight years and later as Senator for twelve years has chosen to stand with the oppressors against his people. Yet he finds it more convenient to be used to discredit whatever Governor Samuel Ortom is doing to secure the lives of Benue people.
“We restate our firm commitment to the peace and security of Benue people. We urge President Muhammadu Buhari and the presidency to prevail on security agencies to warn those planning to cause political crisis in the State to desist from such plots.
“In the same vein, we urge the Police, DSS and other law enforcement agencies to arrest those behind the Sankera violence and stop looking for who to blame.
“The ongoing crisis in the Sankera area of Benue State predates Governor Ortom, and any attempt to link the Governor with the violence will be resisted.
“We are aware of the efforts the Governor has made to bring the security situation in Sankera and the Benue/Taraba border to an end.
“Lastly, we warn officials and members of the faceless ‘Arewa Group’ to avoid overheating the security situation in Benue State. They should not play politics with the sensitive matter which is about human lives.
“The people of the State appreciate the efforts being made by Governor Samuel Ortom and will continue to stand by him as they did during the last polls.”
