{"id":68075,"date":"2022-07-08T14:23:58","date_gmt":"2022-07-08T13:23:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/governor-ortom-calls-for-religious-tolerance-says-nigeria-under-siege"},"modified":"2022-07-08T15:41:26","modified_gmt":"2022-07-08T14:41:26","slug":"governor-ortom-calls-for-religious-tolerance-says-nigeria-under-siege","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/governor-ortom-calls-for-religious-tolerance-says-nigeria-under-siege","title":{"rendered":"Governor Ortom calls for religious tolerance says Nigeria under siege"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. <\/strong><\/span>Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom has again decried the activities of terrorists operating in Nigeria, saying \u201cthe country was under siege\u201d and needs to be helped to come out from the pangs of terrorist groups holding the country to ransom.<\/p>\n<p>Governor Ortom also challenged Nigerians in Diaspora to use the international environment with its free press to call attention to the evil going on in their country and speak against religious extremism.<\/p>\n<p>In a statement issued by Rev. Peter Ichull, Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Diaspora Affairs, the Governor called for religious freedom in Nigeria, insisting that the people\u2019s fundamental human rights must be protected by the federal government.<\/p>\n<p>Governor Ortom raised the alarm while addressing Nigerians in Diaspora and friends of Nigeria at the Freedom of Religion and Belief (FoRB) International Ministerial Fringe Events in Nigeria, organized by the Para-Mallam Peace Foundation and the International Peace-Building and Social Justice in London.<\/p>\n<p>He said, \u201cThe bombing of churches and killing of worshippers was a calculated attempt to send fear into the living to restrict their religious freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Governor stressed that freedom is humanity\u2019s most valuable commodity, which is equally most contested.<\/p>\n<p>According to him, it was for this reason that every just and progressive society must uphold certain freedoms for all people as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights, and the constitutions of most nations, including Nigeria and other rights\u2019 documents.<\/p>\n<p>While questioning the state of freedom in Nigeria, the governor emphasized that Freedom of Religion and Belief was all-important since it ensures that every individual retains the freedom to worship in peace and security as well as change religion or belief at any time without fear of persecution.<\/p>\n<p>On how to solve the intractable security problems, the governor said his state was forced to enact, \u201cThe Benue State Open Grazing Prohibition and Establishment of Ranches Law, 2017\u201d and also put in place other security measures.<\/p>\n<p>Ortom further recommended among other things; honesty on the part of President Buhari in political appointments and citing of development projects to reflect the nation\u2019s diversity.<\/p>\n<p>He urged President Buhari to urgently address the flagrant attacks on Christians on account of their faith, belief system and religion.<\/p>\n<p>Ortom also called for proportionate pressure from the international community and advocated for the \u201cMobilization at the local and international levels to ensure that the dark cloud of rabid religious intolerance and accompanying violence by radical Islam in Nigeria is rolled back.<\/p>\n<p>The Governor urged the International Organization for Peace-Building and Social justice (PSJ UK), organizers of the International Ministerial Fringe Events on Nigeria, and other organizations with like-minded objectives to use their voices to ensure that the Federal Government of Nigeria lives up to its constitutional responsibilities of promoting and upholding Nigeria\u2019s status in words and in actions.<\/p>\n<p>According to Governor Ortom, for the Federal Government to ensure every citizen is given a sense of belonging, Nigerians of all religions and beliefs must be treated equally.<\/p>\n<p>Other recommendations outlined by the Governor for the institution of sustainable peace in the country include \u201cProsecution of all religious offenders according to the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,\u201d and \u201censuring the return and rehabilitation of all Internally Displaced persons to their ancestral lands\u201d as well as \u201cpayment of full compensation to all victims of religious persecution and insecurity and ensuring that victims of religious persecution get justice\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Responding, 85-year-old Baroness Caroline Cox, a Member of Parliament in the House of Lords observed that the invitation for Ortom to address such an important gathering was justified as his voice on topical issues in Nigeria had gained international recognition.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\">Nigeria<\/a> Follow <a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/\">Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom has again decried the activities of terrorists operating in Nigeria, saying \u201cthe country was under siege\u201d and needs to be helped to come out from the pangs of terrorist groups holding the country to ransom. Governor Ortom also challenged Nigerians in Diaspora to use the international environment [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":68074,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,28,14,26],"tags":[1570,2140,254,379],"class_list":["post-68075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-policy","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-nigeria-2","tag-nigeria","tag-ortom"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Governor Ortom calls for religious tolerance says Nigeria under siege - Nigeria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom has again decried the activities of terrorists operating in Nigeria, saying \u201cthe coun ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/governor-ortom-calls-for-religious-tolerance-says-nigeria-under-siege\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Governor Ortom calls for religious tolerance says Nigeria under siege\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom has again decried the activities of terrorists operating in Nigeria, saying \u201cthe coun ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/governor-ortom-calls-for-religious-tolerance-says-nigeria-under-siege\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-07-08T13:23:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-07-08T14:41:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2022\/07\/postQueueImg_14-62c841fda25b6.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/governor-ortom-calls-for-religious-tolerance-says-nigeria-under-siege#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/governor-ortom-calls-for-religious-tolerance-says-nigeria-under-siege\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Governor Ortom calls for religious tolerance says Nigeria under siege\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-07-08T13:23:58+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-07-08T14:41:26+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/governor-ortom-calls-for-religious-tolerance-says-nigeria-under-siege\"},\"wordCount\":638,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/governor-ortom-calls-for-religious-tolerance-says-nigeria-under-siege#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2022\/07\/postQueueImg_14-62c841fda25b6.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Nigeria\",\"Nigeria\",\"Ortom\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"homepage-english\",\"Policy\",\"twitter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/governor-ortom-calls-for-religious-tolerance-says-nigeria-under-siege#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/governor-ortom-calls-for-religious-tolerance-says-nigeria-under-siege\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/governor-ortom-calls-for-religious-tolerance-says-nigeria-under-siege\",\"name\":\"Governor Ortom calls for religious tolerance says Nigeria under siege - 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