Nigerian Concord Newspaper
The immediate past Governor of Benue State, Chief Samuel Ortom, PhD has condemned a statement credited to the newly appointed Benue State commissioner for Information, Mr. Solomon Iorpev that his administration had, on October 16, 2017, “granted the Federal Government the liberty to establish ranches in certain areas of the state.
Chief Samuel Ortom expressed his reactions to Iorpev’s statement in a press statement signed and made available to journalists this afternoon by his Media Assistant, Mr. Zege Paul.
The statement reads in parts: “The attention of the immediate past Governor of Benue State, Chief Samuel Ortom, has been drawn to a false and misleading claim made by the newly appointed Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Solomon Iorpev, that the Ortom administration had, on October 16, 2017, “granted the Federal Government the liberty to establish ranches in certain areas of the state.”
“It is regrettable that Iorpev chose to announce his arrival as Commissioner for Information with such a brazen distortion of history and outright falsehood. A Commissioner entrusted with informing the public should be a custodian of facts, not a manufacturer of convenient narratives designed to provide political cover for his government”
According to Zege Paul, the claim by the new Information Commissioner that the Ortom administration gave the Federal Government blanket liberty to establish ranches in parts of Benue State is false.
“We therefore challenge Iorpev to publish the purported approval of October 16, 2017 which he cited. Let him make public the letter, memorandum, Executive Council resolution, gazette or any other instrument by which Governor Ortom allegedly granted the Federal Government such liberty” he stressed.
The statement also reads: “Let him state the communities and locations supposedly offered. Let him state the land involved. Let him identify the beneficiaries.
Calling on Governor Hyacinth Alia to leave Chief Ortom out of his Pilot Ranch controversies, Paul urged Iorpev to immediately explain how such an alleged blanket approval could be reconciled with the policy and legal position of the Ortom administration throughout its two terms.
“Until the commissioner produces such evidence, his statement should be treated for what it is: an attempt to rewrite recent history in order to drag Chief Ortom into the controversy now confronting the Alia administration” he noted.
“The historical record is clear. In 2017, the Ortom administration enacted the Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law as Benue State’s response to the perennial conflict between open grazing and farming communities.
“That law did not prohibit ranching. It established ranching as the lawful method of livestock production in Benue State while prohibiting open grazing. There is therefore a fundamental difference which Solomon Iorpev either does not understand or deliberately refuses to acknowledge:
“Supporting ranching in accordance with Benue State law is not the same thing as giving the Federal Government unrestricted liberty to take Benue land and establish grazing reserves, cattle colonies, Ruga settlements or communal settlements for pastoralists” the statement further reads.
Paul stressed that Chief Ortom consistently maintained that distinction, noting that his administration’s position was that anyone wishing to establish a ranch in Benue was welcome to do so in accordance with the laws of the state and through the lawful acquisition or lease of land for that purpose. “That was the position then. It remains the logical implication of the law today” he added.
Paul also stated that Iorpev should also remember that Benue people have not forgotten their recent history, noting that Chief Samuel Ortom became one of Nigeria’s most prominent opponents of attempts by the Buhari administration to impose cattle colonies, RUGA settlements, grazing reserves and other arrangements which his government considered incompatible with the state’s ranching law and the interests of Benue communities.
He said: “He spoke against those policies repeatedly. He confronted the Federal Government publicly. He defended the Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law despite enormous political pressure. His position attracted national and international attention and came at considerable political cost.
“It is therefore astonishing that eight years later, a government official would attempt to create the impression that the same Ortom who fought cattle colonies and Ruga had quietly handed the Federal Government liberty to establish ranching settlements wherever it pleased in Benue.
“If Iorpev has discovered a document which overturns this well-established public record, he should publish it. Benue people are waiting.
“More revealing than the falsehood itself is the context in which Iorpev made it. According to him, the Alia administration has not yet said either yes or no to the Federal Government’s current proposal. He further admitted that Governor Hyacinth Alia is consulting communities whose lands are reportedly being considered.
“That admission raises obvious questions. If, as Iorpev claims, the Ortom administration had already given the Federal Government liberty to establish ranches in those areas since October 2017, why is Governor Alia now consulting the communities?What exactly is he consulting them about? Why does his government still have to decide whether to say yes or no? Why does Iorpev say the government will respect the communities if they reject the proposal?
“The Commissioner’s own statements expose the weakness of his attempt to blame the previous administration. If there were already a subsisting, unconditional approval from the Ortom administration granting Abuja liberty to establish these ranches, why would the present administration still be seeking fresh consent in 2026?
The contradiction is glaring.
“The current controversy is not about Samuel Ortom. Chief Ortom left office on May 29, 2023. Governor Hyacinth Alia has been Governor of Benue State for more than three years.
“If the Federal Government has now approached Benue State concerning pilot ranches or communal ranching settlements, Governor Alia should simply tell the people what his government’s position is. There is no need to hide behind Chief Ortom.
“There is no need to manufacture historical excuses. There is no need to drag an administration that left office more than three years ago into a decision which the present government itself admits has not yet been taken.
“The Alia administration should answer the questions before it: Has the Federal Government requested land from Benue State? Which communities and how much land are being considered? What precisely will be established on those lands? Who will own the ranches?
Those are the issues. Samuel Ortom is not the Governor of Benue State today. Hyacinth Alia is.”