"NOTHING IS WRONG WITH THE CALL FOR GOVERNOR ORTOM TO RUN AGAIN.

Franc Utoo has made my work easier this morning, no need to write again.

Yesterday, just yesterday in Makurdi, Benue State, at the Government House to be precise, a group of people from our axis of MINDA and from some other local governments in the
State staged a carnival in the form of a call to Governor Samuel Ortom to contest again in 2019.
Nothing wrong! It is a call made within the ambit of their fundamental rights of expression and association. The Governor "bowed to THEIR pressure" and gladly declared: "I have taken the challenge, bearing in mine that while I was praying God said He is the beginning and the end and by His grace we will make it in 2019."
The Governor must have believed he has done so much. It is no coincidence that this dance of 'azonto' call for continuation came at a time the Governor was receiving accolades for the passage and implementation of the Anti-Open Grazing Law that all of us literally pressured him to adopt. That is good scheme. In politics, it is always good to capitalise on little moments of goodwill. Nothing wrong.
It is also not wrong for the MINDA "callers" to accuse some of us for deliberately being blind to the massive achievements recorded by the Governor such as the completed and ready to be commissioned Cargo Airport; The dualisation of the Daudu-Gbajimba road, Yelewata- Udei, Naka-Adaka road and the electrification of Yogbo town among over 100 other villages. It is no wrong if we are accused of not commending the Governor for being up to date with workers salary, pension and bursaries. Praising the Governor for developing alternative energy supply, bringing hundreds of investments to the State, adequately equipping 5 State of the art hospitals in each zone, and providing employment opportunities for thousands of Benue graduates, is not wrong.
What is wrong, however, is that amidst the cacophony of platitudes expressed by the excited "callers," and Governor Ortom's oft-repeated stale claims of "divine intervention," the Governor, as a 'man of God' who knew deep in his heart that he was gagged by baseless sycophancy, should have surprised this MINDA group and their collaborators by replicating the action of the former Russian President, Boris Yeltsin,when he caught the entire Russian federation unawares by announcing his resignation in the morning of 31 December, 1999. Ortom shouldn't have resigned,but should have told that group of supporters that he won't be contesting in 2019, by repeating the following words of BORIS YELTSIN verbatim:
"Today, on this incredibly important day for me, I want to say more personal words than I usually do. I want to ask you for forgiveness, because many of our hopes have not come true, because what we thought would be easy turned out to be painfully difficult."
"I ask you to forgive me for not fulfilling some hopes of those people who believed that we would be able to jump from the grey, stagnating, totalitarian past into a bright, rich and civilized future in one go."
"I myself believed in this. But it could not be done in one fell swoop. In some respects I was too naive. Some of the problems were too complex. We struggled on through mistakes and failures. At this complex time many people experienced upheavals in their lives. But I want you to know that I never said this would be easy."
"Today it is important for me to tell you the following. I also experienced the pain which each of you experienced. I experienced it in my heart, with sleepless nights, agonizing over what needed to be done to ensure that people lived more easily and better, if only a little. I did not have any objective more important than that."
"I am leaving. I have done everything I could. I am not leaving because of my health, but because of all the problems taken together.
"A new generation is taking my place, the generation of those who can do more and do it better..."
*... and drop the Mic!*
Verily, verily I tell you, he would have received a more thunderous ovation and cheers from that same crowd, and they'd turn back to disturb our Facebook timelines, conventional and social media with the news of what a great act of statesmanship the Governor had just exhibited. Truth is, whenever any matter has a direct bearing to their stomachs, NOTHING IS WRONG!
For God, For Benue And For Truth...
Yours in service,
Franc Fagah Utoo, Esq. LQC (Malaysia); LL.B Hons (Newcastle, UK ); BL (Abuja)
*Former President of the Students Representative Council (SRC), Nigerian Law School, Abuja."