By John Charles
Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, said on Sunday that he decided to avoid anarchy by refraining from going headlong with the Federal Government over the continuous waste of his people.
Ortom, who stated this when he visited victims of last Thursday’s herders’ attack opposite the Abagena Internally Displaced Persons camp at the hospital where they are receiving treatment, accused the Federal Government of being complicit in the incessant killings by herders in the state.
The governor was conducted around the wards by the Chief Medical Director of the Benue State University Teaching Hospital, Prof. Terrumun Swende.
No fewer than nine of the survivors are receiving treatment at the hospital.
On Thursday night, bandits stormed the Abagena community opposite the IDP camp and killed nine people, including six members of a family.
The governor said, “This is my pain, since 2015, I have cried out loud that the Federal Government is complicit in the issues of terrorism by raising Fulanis in Niger from Futa Jalon (Senegal), Cameroon, Mauritania, Libya, and other parts of the world so that they will come to Nigeria and take it and make it their country.
“One thing that pains me is that these people have not hidden their intentions; they are known. The Federal Government is protecting them. I have called for the arrest of the leadership of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore several times. I have written to the Presidency. I have written to the DSS and the police, and yet they are adamant. It is not that these people are unknown; they are known.
“The day the Federal Government wants these acts of terrorism against our people to end, that will be it. But for now, they are complicit. They are working with them to push for the takeover of this country and make this country a Fulani nation.”
While expressing disappointment over the continued invasion and killings of Benue people by the Fulani herders, the governor said, “We are fed up with this kind of lawlessness that is going on.”
Source: The Punch
