Elder Sunday Agi Oibe is a Benue born christian activist and secretary, North West Zone of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN). In this interview with The Voice Correspondent covering Taraba State, ODEH OGAJI, he extols the leadership qualities of Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State and highlights the various challenges bedeviling the state even as he charts the way forward. Excerpts.
Can you tell us a little about yourself?
My name is Elder Sunday Agi Oibe. I am from Benue State but I reside in Kaduna. I have been working as a self-employed person. I am a humanitarian and a Christian activist. Some few years ago I was a National Director of National Issues in the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN). I had also served as public relation officer of the Northern States, CAN and presently, I am the Secretary of North West Zone of CAN. God has given me the privilege to serve my church as the national chairman of the Council and that is what I am doing right now. I am married and I have children.
Benue people are blessed to have somebody like Samuel Ortom as the Governor of Benue State. He is a person I know intimately well. I knew him when he was a minister under President Goodluck Jonathan. But Ortom came into lime light of Benue Governance when God gave him the privilege to become the Governor of Benue State at a time that is not very palatable to govern the state. What I mean is that the happenings before he came in as the governor and the psychology of the people of Benue State as well as the pit holes that were dug for him actually made things difficult for him. At a point, it was very obvious that he was tired and wanted to go. But through prayers, encouragements and the trust he has in God, he was able to overcome some of these challenges. Anyone who has been following the developments in Benue State will attest to the fact that Ortom has actually decided to work for the people of Benue State despite the challenges of security and enemies of the state. If you critically examine the circumstances surrounding the state and what comes into the state from the Federation Account as well as the expenditure of Benue State, you will have a cause to praise the Governor. Like my father would say, if you depend solely on someone to be always giving you, there is no way you will be satisfied. Human needs are insatiable. So taking it in perspective, I can say he has done well but he can do better. There is a possibility for him to do better and he has being struggling to do better. What we as a people need to do for Ortom and the government of Benue State is that all hands must be on deck in building the state rather than fighting in isolation. All of us need to come together and encourage him to do better because a house that is divided against itself cannot stand. That is why during the political brouhaha between the governor and other political demagogues in the state, I personally encouraged him to see how he would bring all the warring factions together and am happy that both Gemade, Suswam, David Mark and the rest of them agreed to come together.
As a leader you must ensure that your house is not fractionized. When you have a divided house, it will be difficult for you to think of progress. I think that was the challenge he had at the beginning. He can do better if the people of Benue State decide to cooperate with him and he builds a synergy across the three Senatorial Zones of the state.
Some critics of Governor Ortom’s administration are calling for his resignation on the ground of incompetence to rule Benue State effectively. Do you also subscribe to that?
I don’t respond to frivolous allegations. In law, it is said that, he who alleges must have a proof. So in the first place, what is their definition of incompetence? That is what I want to know. Again, calling for his resignation is totally misplaced. If you could remember, seven members of the State House of Assembly had some time in the past wanted to remove Ortom. These are the same detractors I can see at work but is that what is the need of the people of Benue State for now? Also, if you say the man is incompetent, let’s look at it holistically and begin to talk objectively if you have a superior argument then I will bow.
If there is anybody who has sacrificed his political career for the people that he leads is Governor Ortom. If Ortom wants to dance to the powers that be at the centre, he would have been in the good book of the powers and everything would have been going jolly for him at the detriment of the good people of Benue State but he said he was elected by the people of Benue State not the power that is based in Abuja and that he has the constitutional power to protect his people and that is exactly what he is doing.
Let me tell you the issue of Anti-open grazing Law that people are describing and talking about all over the places needs not to be debated. In Zamfara, during Obasanjo’s regime, Sani Yerima Bafarawa protected Sharia, nobody went after him. Obasanjo with all his powers did not go after him. He maintained that it was what his people wanted. Why is it that if it is a political issue, it dies a natural death but if it is religious it will go as it is? Why are we having double standards in this country?
You will agree with me that both Muslims and Christians who are based in Benue State agreed with the Anti-Open Grazing Law sponsored by Governor Ortom because most of them are farmers.
They said if there is anything to present before the Federal Government that will be of help to them, it is the bill and if a leader is saying that this is what my people are yearning for, is that what calls for incompetence? Or, is it that he is always emphasizing that people should stop coming from elsewhere to kill his people ?
I don’t understand the definition of their incompetence. Again if you say a man who was elected by the people should resign and go, there is a democratic process of removing all elected persons from office. Governor Ortom is in touch with his people. You can attest to the fact that despite the hunger that is heating the state following Fulani killings that is preventing the people from going to farm. When the issue of looting spree which was orchestrated by the END SARS Protesters came up in the country, did you hear it in Benue State?
This is because, Ortom went to the people, talked to them and they heard him. That is a government that is in touch with his people. It’s very funny sometimes. I was discussing with somebody recently and he said the governor has decided to take our state money to the farm. I could not wait for him to finish before I told him that the record I have shows that Ortom had these farms before he became a minister and subsequently the Governor of Benue State so why is he talking like that?
If you say the government of Ortom has challenges, I will agree because the major challenge is insecurity where the monies he is expending on IDP Camps and the rest of other similar issues could have been used for infrastructural development in the state. Do you know what it takes to maintain this huge number of people? I was opportune to do some similar interventions through some organizations and I know what it takes. So let the people who are accusing him and calling for his resignation on the grounds of incompetence tell us what they have done.
What do you think can be done to tackle the problem of communal crisis in Benue State?
This is one of the things that my heart bleeds. I cry every time. People of Benue State are people who are accommodating. I don’t know what is happening in the State now. Just like you asked, Tiv are fighting within themselves because of land or whatsoever. To me, these are issues that are supposed to be resolved on a round table. It is an indication that nationally our moral values are decaying. The crisis between Igede and the Tiv started in Ugbendaa and Ukpude last year. I was so pained and I had an opportunity to meet with the governor. He said my brother, Igede people did not start this fight and that he had suspended the chief who was behind the crisis. I was taken aback and he said yes he had done that. Even the Tor-Tiv knows that the guy was the one who started the trouble. That is the governor who has an open heart for everybody. The governor is a Tiv man but when he discovered that it was the king who started the trouble, he suspended him. I am an Igede man but I have several friends who are Tiv. I think that is how it should be. Between Igede and Tiv, there is what we call interdependence. An Igede man needs a Tiv man and a Tiv man needs an Igede man. An Idoma man needs a Tiv man and vice versa. Let me give you an example, Tiv people are blessed with fertile land more than Igede and Idoma, the garden eggs that comes during the time of farming, the groundnut and maize that comes from Tiv during harvests are consumed massively by both Idoma and Igede. The Tiv harvest yams earlier than Igede people because of their land. If there is any place where yam is produced in a large commercial quantity, it is in Tiv land. They supply us oranges. We buy all these from them and they also buy some of these things from us and take to their places but the crisis has paralyzed the economy of our areas particularly in Konshisha and Oju Local Government Areas. Our mutual relationship and the brother indices where we do traditional weddings, festivals and burials all have collapsed. I have a Tiv lady who always sends oranges to me even when I am not around. Whenever I am not around and she sees my friends around with cars, she plucks oranges and sends to me. Last year I was returning from home with my family she gave us 24 tubers of yam. This is the kind of relationship that we have. But surely, the devil has infiltrated the Igede and the Tiv.
My appeal to the two tribes that they should eschew violence. An average Igede man is not known to be a violent person. He is always friendly. Likewise a Tiv man who is known for his friendliness and hospitability to strangers. I don’t identify myself with any person who is violent because it is not in my nature. I appealed to Governor Ortom to rehabilitate the road from Konshisha to Oju and he promised he was going to do it before he leaves. But if we continue to fight ourselves, how will government bring development to our place. For me, if Tiv and Igede people mobilize to protest that government must do the Konshisha – Oju road for us else he will not pass through the road, I will join the protest. But fighting is totally misplaced. We must stop this madness. Already, we have an external force which is ravaging us, the herdsmen, to take over our land. And if we as brothers cannot unite, I wonder how we will contend with the forces from outside. The rainy season is here and farmers cannot go to the farm because of internal crisis. This is not the Benue that I know.
Igede were people of high moral values. Will you say the standard is still obtainable?
There is a general decay in societal values. That is why as Christians, the Bible tells us to ‘come out from among them and be ye separate’ because if you are equally yoked with people of moral decadence, you will equally copy from them. The hallmark of an Igede man over the years is honesty and hard work but the recent developments where no one trusts another is unfortunate. Let us not forget our culture, let us not forget the values that our parents have handed over to us. As we go out to socialize and mingle with other people, any culture that is contrary to our values and our culture should be let go.