We must have done something terrible as Nigerians to deserve the kind of leadership we have been subjected to over the last 21 years. There is no other logical explanation why we have leaders who are caught stealing millions of dollars from their own states and are still voted back into office for a second term, why we have governors who arrest journalists on trumped up charges of treason and get away with it, why all our incompetent governors try to ride out the rest of their lives furthering more incompetence and insulating themselves from the consequences of their crimes by signing laws that try to gag citizen protest. There is no logical explanation why Governor Ortom of Benue State is calling for 30 days of fasting and intense prayers as a response to the escalating Herdsmen crisis in his state.

Governor Ortom who recently turned 59 has been at the helm of Benue state’s governance for most of its absymal handling of the Herdsmen crisis. We wrote in 2018 about the Massacres that happened in Benue and the glaring lack of solutions Governor Ortom had to the crisis, a lack of solutions that persists to this day. Governor Ortom was quick to accuse the federal government of not providing necessary military power to combat the surge of herdsmen, a valid complaint 2 years ago, but not one he can continue to trot out as an excuse for incompetence. Benue state relies heavily on its farming communities to provide employment opportunities and revenue for the state, communities that have been disrupted by the herdsmen crisis. There has been more than enough time (the herdsmen attacks began to escalate in 2016) for the governor to have formulated a long term, progressive solution to its problems.

It is disappointing that Governor Ortom expects citizens of Benue to pray away their problems, rather than providing them a useful road map to solve those problems. Perhaps, what Nigerians need to pray for, is better leaders.

Editor