- Benue state governor Samuel Ortom says if President Buhari is sick, it means all Nigerians are also sick
- He said this after urging both Christians and Muslims to pray for president because it is their our duty
- The Benue state governor however said he was the first person that initiated prayers and shouted Halleluyah when he saw Buhari's health state
Samuel Ortom, the Benue state governor has sent a strong message to all Nigerians, saying that if President Muhammadu Buhari’s sickness, the nation and indeed all Nigerians are sick.
He declared this a week after he and six of his colleagues visited the ailing president in London urging Buhari not to be in a hurry to return to the country.
Ortom noted this on Thursday, August 3, Abuja, amid growing speculations that the President was due back in the country, Punch reports.
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NAIJ.com gathered that he said Buhari was mentally alert throughout the period the governors spent with him.
''President is doing well. When we saw him, he was not in a wheelchair, he was not bedridden. He greeted us, we cracked jokes and he was mentally alert. We discussed about the security situation in the country and he asked us questions about what we are doing.
He said: ''I was the first person that initiated prayers and I shouted halleluyah when I saw him because God has answered my prayers. I urge both Christians and Muslims to pray for President because that is our duty.
''We should be praying for him. If president is sick, it means all of us are sick; the whole country is sick. It is our responsibility to pray that president get well so that our country too will be well.
''Our prayer is that God will consummate his healing. We asked him not to hurry because there is no vacuum.The Acting President is holding forth for him and he is doing very well. By the grace of God, I believe that very soon, he will be with us''.
Meanwhile, Former special assistant to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan on new media, Reno Omokri has attacked the Benue state governor over his statement.
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Omokri said: ''What else would you expect from a man whose youth empowerment program is to give youths wheelbarrows branded with his name? I want to assure Mr. Ortom that even though I wish President Muhammadu Buhari a quick recovery, I am NOT sick and Nigerians are NOT sick.
‘’This is sycophancy taken to a sickening dimension. But perhaps Governor Ortom is right in a way. Nigerians are sick and tired of the APC administration from top to bottom. They can take their wheelbarrows and leave us alone come 2019''.
Meanwhile, NAIJ.com had reported that Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue state on Tuesday, July 31, said that the governors who visited President Muhammad Buhari in the United Kingdom last week advised him not to rush to return to Nigeria.
Ortom who made this statement in Makurdi, said Buhari is getting better and would soon return to Nigeria.
In the video below, NAIJ.com TV asked some Nigerians what they have to say about Buhari's continued absence from the country: