“We don’t have external aggression but an internal one” Mr Fayose

According to him, government’s failure to deal once and for all with the country’s many security challenges, and its resorting to paying out ransoms, indicates that the problem is an internal one caused by people who are profiting from it.

“We don’t have external aggression but an internal one,” said the outspoken governor.

“We are calling on the international community to look beyond Boko Haram or herdsmen. The international community should come for fact-finding and dig deeper into the killings in Nigeria. This is beyond what Boko Haram or herdsmen are doing. It is more of what the government has failed to do on time. Nigerians are becoming helpless. Benue people need international intervention, they need support. We want to believe that President has lost it. His approach has been cosmetic.

“How would you want us to believe that the Nigerian Army cannot engage herdsmen, cannot engage Boko Haram. It seems that the reason for the coming of President Bubari to secure Nigeria has been defeated in all areas – corruption and the fight against Boko Haram to secure Nigeria, among others.

“You can all see the situation; Nigerians are angry and hungry on a daily basis as they are being killed by their own brothers.

I can’t understand why the federal government cannot take a stand to engage the so-called herdsmen. They flaunt their weapons on social media and the government looks away. Currently, the APC-led government, led by President Buhari, is paying lip-service to the challenge of Boko Haram and herdsmen,” he alleged.

Fayose called on Nigerians to challenge the President to act decisively, saying that “steps must be taken. Nigeria must realise that if we fail to challenge the government on this it would be a sad story for the coming generation.

“Personally, I am worried as a Nigerian that we are no longer safe in our fatherland,” he said.

The governor maintained that “the President’ s visit to Taraba is simply political. After the President left Taraba people were killed. I can’t believe that after three months of the killings the President only went to the troubled part [of the country] and spent only one or two hours and left. It is unfortunate.”

Asked if the Governors Forum had advised President Buhari on what to do, he said: “The Governors Forum is not the Commander-in-Chief of the nation. The present government is not taking advice. How do you explain a situation where our President is saying governors should tell their people not to block cattle routes in this 21st century? We are faced with the challenge of people carrying AK47s in the name of rearing cows, and we are talking of cattle routes in the 21st century! The defence of cows has become more important than that of human beings.

The insurgency plaguing Nigeria now is an internal problem not an external aggression. The President as the Commander-in-Chief should find solutions to this challenge or resign for incompetency,” he stated.

“I am also advising the youths to get involved in politics and take over power from the old folks. We should stop paying ransoms because this is becoming like a business.

“That is why we killed against the move to take $1 billion from the Excess Crude Oil account. When we continue to pay ransoms we won’t get anywhere. We are paying $2 million for somebody. So what is the essence of the fight by the Nigerian Army? The corruption in the system is encouraging this war. People are promoting this war at the expense of the lives of Nigerians,” he said.