TheCable

The People Democratic Party (PDP) governors forum has condemned the attack on the convoy of Samuel Ortom, Benue state governor.

The forum charged the federal government to secure the lives and human rights of all Nigerians regardless of political leanings.

In a statement released on Sunday, the forum warned that no group of individuals should be brazen enough to take laws into their own hands.

The statement was signed by Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, chairman of the forum and Sokoto state governor.

The statement reads: “The PDP-Governors Forum has received with shock the assassination attempt on the Governor of Benue State, H.E. Dr Samuel Ortom.

“We wish therefore to warn that any attempt to harm any Nigerian will be viewed by the Forum as an attempt on all of us.

“We believe strongly that any dispute or perceived dispute should be and must be resolved amicably without resort to violence. Nigeria is not a Babana Republic, even though certain retrogressive elements and centrifugal forces are trying to consign Nigeria into a failed state.

“It remains the primary responsibility of the government, especially the Federal government, who have a monopoly of the coercive forces of state, to secure the lives and livelihoods of our people, however low or high. Every Nigerian deserves equal protection of the laws. Every citizen is entitled to freedom of speech and free exercise of all rights guaranteed in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, subject only to law.

“Nigeria is still a democracy and a nation of laws and not men. Nobody, or group however highly placed should take the laws into their hands, even though some highly placed Federal government ministers seem to have surrendered to the nefarious activities of miscreants and mischief makers, bent on destabilising the nation. Self help is an invitation to anarchy and must be nipped in the bud.

On Saturday, TheCable reported how Ortom’s motorcade was ambushed at Tyo Mu along Makurdi-Gboko road while on a visit to a farm.

The governor has said police officers and operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) have commenced an investigation into the attack.