On Tuesday, the Presidency chastised Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom for being one among the leaders who do not come up with solutions to problems but instead blame others.
The government of President Muhammadu Buhari derided Ortom, who is also a fierce critic of the regime, as the governor with the country's longest record of unpaid salaries and pensions.
Garba Shehu, a presidential spokeswoman, made the comments in a statement headlined "The Incongruence of Governor Samuel Ortom on Arise TV" in response to his frequent attacks on the President.
He claimed Ortom had continued to blame the President, who had not paid federal workers, for his problems, rather than obtaining funds to pay back outstanding wages.
Shehu stated that after receiving Salary Bailout, Excess Crude Loan, and Budget Support Loan, all of which are repayable in 20 years, the Governor was still unable to discharge his duties.
He stated that Nigeria has had enough of failing politicians who blamed others as a diversion from their incapacity to better the lives of their constituents.
"There are two categories of politicians in Nigeria today," the statement said in part. The first are politicians, who are leaders who give solutions to the problems that people and the country face. They propose and implement policies to better the lives of others.
"The second type of politician is one who makes excuses for the difficulties that voters experience. They shun ideas and instead blame others for problems they either did not solve or created.
"President Buhari is a strong leader." He inherited a treasury that had been depleted by previous governments – and he sought and was successful in repatriating billions of dollars of stolen funds from abroad. More than 500,000 bank accounts operated by Ministries, Agencies, and Departments were found by his administration.
"The money belonging to the government was maintained in these accounts." The same government entities resorted to banks for high interest rates to borrow money held by sister agencies. Furthermore, because some of the signatories had left the military or were "unknown," no one had access to the monies.
"MDAs are now required to use the Treasury Single Account, TSA, which is held by the Central Bank of Nigeria." And the President unveiled the first and only strategy in 100 years to handle farmer-herder confrontations, assisting states in rediscovering grazing areas and creating ranching lands, which have successfully lowered tensions while enhancing concord and saving lives.
"The other politician is Governor Samuel Ortom, who is now in office." He inherited unpaid salaries and pension liabilities, and instead of finding a means to pay them, he blamed the President.
"This is a President who has not failed to pay the salaries of federal employees and has deemed state failure to do so a national calamity." To avoid this, he has provided money to states in excess of N1.682 trillion on several occasions, and Benue, Mr Ortom's state, has not been left out on any of them: Salary Bailout, Excess Crude Loan, and Budget Support Loan, all of which are repayable in 20 years. Lagos, for example, did not collect any of the loans.
"A few other states refused to accept one or two." Mr Ortom, a former office holder who collected on all occasions and now has the country's longest record of unpaid salary and pensions, has no cause, absolutely no reason, to criticise President Buhari for the mess he has made of his state and its workers.
"Having first claimed that his predecessors were responsible for the arrears, it was his responsibility to demonstrate that he was superior by paying." Instead, he became one of them! And, rather than respecting the voters who elected him, he openly criticises them in unprintable terms and has formed his own thuggish militia to harass and violate them.
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