The Deputy Speaker of the Bauchi State House of Assembly, Hon. Danlami Ahmed Kawule has knocked Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State for tagging his counterpart in Bauchi State, Senator Bala Mohammed a terrorist.
Speaking with newsmen in
Bauchi on Tuesday, Kawule asked Ortom to apologise to the people of Bauchi for making such a derogatory statement about the governor.
The lawmaker noted that the people of the state are not happy with governor Ortom because Bauchi State is the most secured place in the country.
Kawule also condemned Ortom for asking to leave Benue and go to Bauchi and pick AK-47 if they cannot follow the laws of the state.
He lamented the strained relationship between the two PDP governors who are supposed to be colleagues, fellow party members working towards the unity of the nation.
He said: “As far as I am concerned, Governor Ortom needs to apologise to the people of Bauchi State for tagging Governor Mohammed as a terrorist because Bauchi people are not terrorists neither is the governor. Such statement should not come out from the mouth of a leader who happens to be a mouthpiece of the people who everybody looks forward to as a role model”
“For him to say that if you cannot follow the law in Benue State, go to Bauchi State and pick AK-47 is very dehumanising. What does Governor Ortom mean by such a statement? That statement is an abusive word. We are not happy over this development because Bauchi State is the most secured place in the country where other neighbouring states who are bedeviled by insecurity come to settle”
Kawule, however, urged leaders in the country to stop making comments that have the capacity to heat up the polity, noting that no nation can progress in a state of chaos.
Defending the governor, the lawmaker said Mohammed has been working hard to foster peaceful coexistence in the country and would not be part of any plot to disintegrate it.
He said the statement made by the governor that Fulani herders should defend themselves was not meant to create tension in the country, but to proffer solutions to the insecurity problems in the country.
Kawule said that Fulani herders have the right to defend themselves, stressing that tagging them as terrorists was unfair and not in the interest of peaceful coexistence.
