Governor of
Benue state, Samuel Ortom has cried out to the public over the recent killings
in the state by Fulani Herdsmen, saying that the Presidency has 'abandoned'
him.
Ortom
pointed fingers at those around the president, saying that they were
frustrating his efforts to present a true account of events to the president
due to selfish reasons.
Speaking to
Vanguard, Ortom further stated that he was losing control of things as the
people of his state now take laws into their own hands. He said;
"Let me
be frank. The Federal Government has not done enough. When this incidence
started with the threat from the president and secretary of Miyetti Allah,
Kauta Hore, who addressed a press conference and issued threats that they will
do everything possible to frustrate the Benue State Government from
implementing the anti-open grazing law, we quickly drew the attention of the
Inspector General of Police, the Director-General of the Department of State
Services, DSS, and even the office of the National Security Adviser.
The
leadership of Miyetti Allah called the law names: that it was draconian and had
no place in the 21st century. We saw that as a threat to our existence and in
June 2016, we reported to the then acting president (Prof. Yemi Osinbajo) and
to our surprise, these people were not apprehended.
When they
saw that no one was going to apprehend them, they went further to issue more
threats. In October 2016, we reminded the IGP, the DSS and the NSA of the
potential violence that we faced in Benue State as a result of the threat from
the Miyetti Allah. We, specifically, demanded that the two officers of the
Miyetti Allah, the secretary and the president, be arrested, but unfortunately,
they were not arrested. I do not know why the Federal Government has abandoned
us. If they had acted that time, we would not have gotten to where we are
today."
The stressed
governor said that due to the continued killings of innocent Benue Indigenes by
Fulani Herdsmen, the people have now decided to take laws into their hands.
"You
can see that it is getting beyond me. Even when there was protest against the
recent killings in Makurdi, and I went there, there was massive resistance. It
became violent and it is even God that saved us. I would have been attacked.
When I came
into office, there was proliferation of arms and ammunition in the state. I
declared an amnesty programme that saw massive retrieval of arms from our
youths. I pleaded with them that the way to develop is not by taking the laws
into their hands but by obeying the laws. I have resisted the temptation to say
that our people should protect themselves because I trusted the president.
I believed
that he has the capacity to protect us. But from what is happening, I am sure
some people around him are frustrating our communication with him and the
actions to be taken. Otherwise, the president I know will not allow this kind
of thing to be happening. We have not committed any offence.
We have no
regret passing the anti-open grazing law. The law came as a necessity because
of the killings in Benue State by the herdsmen. We sought peaceful ways of
resolving the matter but we could not.
We tried
everything under the sun to ensure that we stopped these killings but it was
not possible so we prayed and God gave us the wisdom to enact that law, which
gives protection to the farmers and the herdsmen.
“We have not
sent cattle rearers away from Benue, we are simply saying there are modern ways
of rearing cattle, which is to ranch them. With that, farmers can go their
legitimate ways of doing their business and those who are rearing cattle can
also continue. I am surprised at the resistance of the herders."
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