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Presidency, Ortom Trade Words over Ruga Settlement
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, has lashed out at the Governor of Benue State, Mr samuel Ortom, saying he was using the Ruga controversy to divert attention from his failure.
Shehu stated, “One thing I can tell you is that Benue is absolutely absent from this. They have not applied and they have not been invited. But the thing is that the nature of politics in that place; people have used this ethnicity to get to power. They need it in order to stay in power because they have no answers to the problem of their people.”
Responding to Shehu’s claims, Ortom said that the presidential aide should be truthful in his claims on Ruga settlements.
Ortom, in a statement by his chief press secretary, said that the Federal Ministry of Agriculture once wrote to him about the decision to establish Ruga settlement in three senatorial districts of the state.
The governor said that the state Ministry of Agriculture had to write back stating that the state had no land for the plan.
He stated, “The Federal Government, through its Ministry of Agriculture, wrote to the Benue State Government informing it about the decision to establish Ruga settlements in the three senatorial zones of the state.
“Our ministry of agriculture which received the correspondence responded that Benue has no land for the Ruga settlements.
“It added that the state only had land for ranches as stipulated by the state’s Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law 2017.
“ The Benue State Government subsequently made public its rejection of the Ruga model of animal husbandry and reminded those pushing for the illegal settlement patterns about provisions of the country’s Constitution and the Land Use Act.
“We were therefore shocked to hear Mallam Shehu claim that Governor Ortom was not invited/included in the Ruga project and therefore had no right to comment on it.
“If the Senior Special Assistant to the President claims that Benue was not included in the Ruga arrangement, why did the Federal Government send contractors to mount the project’s signposts in parts of the state?
“If Benue was not included in the Ruga settlements, why did the Federal Government say it has gazetted land in the 36 states for the project?
“It is now clear that Mallam Garba Shehu is misleading the Presidency and telling lies about a sensitive matter that affects the entire country.”
While speaking on the claim that he as a governor liked to fuel ethnic division, Ortom said that he was elected because people found him worthy.
He said, “Benue people re-elected Governor Ortom because they were convinced that he is the one who truly represents and protects their interests.
“The governor will therefore, neither be distracted nor be intimidated by the antics of the likes of Garba Shehu.”
The Presidency has dismissed claims that Vice President Kashim Shettima’s recent comments were directed at the political situation in Rivers State or President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s constitutional decisions on the matter.
In a statement on Friday by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Communications (Office of the Vice President), Stanley Nkwocha, the Presidency described the reports as a “gross misrepresentation.”
The statement clarified that Vice President Shettima’s remarks at the public presentation of a book by former Attorney General of the Federation, Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN), were misconstrued by some online platforms and individuals.
“These reports have distorted the Vice President’s comments in pursuit of a mischievous agenda,” it stated.
“They twisted his account of how the administration of former President Jonathan considered removing him as Borno Governor during the insurgency to falsely link it with current events in Rivers State.”
The Vice President, who spoke at the launch of OPL 245: The Inside Story of the $1.3 Billion Oil Block in Abuja on Thursday, was said to have referenced the past solely to commend Adoke’s professionalism while in office, and to reflect on Nigeria’s constitutional evolution regarding federal and state relations.
“For the avoidance of doubt, President Tinubu did not remove Governor Fubara from office. The constitutional measure implemented was a suspension, not an outright removal.
“This action was taken in response to the grave political crisis in Rivers State at the time, with the governor facing a looming impeachment and the State Assembly complex under demolition,” Nkwocha clarified.
The Presidency insisted that the action taken by President Tinubu in declaring a state of emergency and suspending the Governor was fully in line with Section 305 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), which authorises such measures when there is a breakdown of public order requiring extraordinary intervention.
According to the statement, the President’s proclamation invoking Section 305(2) was subsequently ratified by an overwhelming bipartisan majority in the National Assembly, confirming the legitimacy and constitutional propriety of the decision.
“The action of President Tinubu in suspending Mr. Fubara and others from exercising the functions of office averted the governor’s outright removal. To conflate suspension with removal is misleading,” the statement further noted.
Nkwocha also stressed that Vice President Shettima’s comments were delivered extemporaneously and intended to underline the importance of public accountability and historical documentation.
He referenced the Vice President’s mention of past public servants, including Adoke and former Speaker Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, to illustrate principled leadership.
“His remarks were not in any way a criticism of President Tinubu’s actions, which the Vice President and the entire administration fully support and stand by without reservation,” the spokesman stated.
The Vice President, the statement added, remains in “loyal concert” with President Tinubu and is committed to implementing all constitutional measures necessary to safeguard democracy and uphold order across the country.
Concluding, the Presidency called on media organisations and political actors to desist from misrepresenting public remarks for sensational or partisan purposes.
“We urge media organisations and political actors to desist from the destructive practice of wrenching statements from context in order to fabricate nonexistent conflicts,” Nkwocha said.
Headlines
Akpabio Relieves Natasha of Committee Chairmanship Position, Appoints Akwa Ibom Senator As Replacement
Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, has replaced suspended Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, as the Chairman, Senate Committee on Diaspora/Non-Governmental Organisations.
In her place, Akpabio named Senator Bassey Aniekun Etim (Akwa Ibom -East).
The Senate President, who made the announcement on the floor in Abuja on Thursday, did not give any reasons.
The committee position had remained vacant since March when the Senate suspended the Kogi-Central Senatorial District lawmaker for six months for flouting the Senate’s rule on the seating arrangement and seat allocation.
The suspended lawmaker, at a point, chaired the Senate Committee on Local Content before Akpabio reassigned her to the Committee on Diaspora/NGO, shortly before she ran into trouble with the Senate over her conduct on seat allocation.
The Supreme Court has affirmed the 2024 governorship election victory of Governor Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC), dismissing the appeal filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Asuerinme Ighodalo.
In a unanimous decision by a five-member panel led by Justice Mohammed Garba, the apex court ruled that the appeal lacked merit. It upheld the earlier judgments of the Court of Appeal and the Edo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, which had both declared Okpebholo the validly elected governor.
