Apparently miffed by the incessant attacks on farmers in
Benue State by suspected Fulani herdsmen, the state governor, Samuel Ortom,
yesterday raised the alarm that the state is under siege.
The governor, who was reacting to the weekend’s attacks on
Agwabi village in Binev Council Ward in Buruku Local Government Area of the
state, called on the herdsmen to vacate the state immediately before the people
resort to self-defence as they have been pushed to the wall.
Ortom, who lamented the attacks, noted that the herdsmen
have virtually taken over the entire land in the state, stressing that enough
is enough for the rampant killings of his people.
“This is an unfortunate situation that has been happening to
us in Benue State. I have been crying all over the place and making appeals
because we are under siege by the herdsmen, you push them away from one end,
they will go to another end of the state,” the governor lamented.
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According to him, it is a bad situation now to see how every
day our people are being killed, raped by these mercenaries, who do not have
respect for rule of law and for security personnel.
Ortom said: “These are wicked mercenaries under the guise of
herdsmen attacking us and taken over our farmlands. I have said it several
times that we do not have land for grazing in the state, let them move out of
the state. There is a limit to which I can appeal to my people to restrain
themselves from reprisal attacks, if all of them are killed then I will be the
next target.”
Alluding to allegation that the youths in the state are rustling Fulani cows, the governor denied the allegation saying, “it is the criminal elements among the herdsmen that always steal their cows,” arguing whether rustling of cows is commensurate with the human lives they take
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