A Nigerian Air Force personnel attached to the tactical air command in Makurdi, on Saturday prevented Governor Samuel Ortom from welcoming Vice President Yemi Osinbajo to Benue State.
The Vice President was in transit through Benue to Wukari in Taraba State.
Ortom who addressed journalists at the Government House in Makurdi, said organs of government should avoid conflating official duties with politics.
The governor said he had been formally invited to welcome the Vice-President, calling for disciplinary actions against the air force personnel in what he described as an embarrassment to his office.
“I don’t want to be someone who is a busybody,” Mr Ortom said, holding a letter from the State House formally requesting him to receive the Vice President.
“I have too many things to do. As I talk to you, the entire Gwer-West is under siege. The Fulani have come and are burning down houses. I was supposed to go there but I had to shift everything to receive the Vice President. I feel so pained that politics has been taken beyond what it is supposed to be.
“There is no permanent enemy in politics, no permanent friend. Tomorrow I can be the best friend of Mr President if they choose to do the right thing. I don’t have any problems with the President and Vice President, and all the things that I say, they are meant to add value to development and get things right. I have never insulted the President or the Vice President or the Federal Government. But there are certain things they are doing which are wrong.”
