GOVERNOR Samuel Ortom of Benue State has expressed dissatisfaction over the nonchalant attitude of the federal government towards the incessant killings of farmers by armed herdsmen.
The governor, who spoke said yesterday in Ugba, Logo Local Government Area of the state while undertaking tour of areas destroyed by the herdsmen, said that he would not want what happened in Southern Kaduna to repeat itself in Benue, and urged the federal government to intervene quickly to put an end to the incessant crisis between the farmers and herdsmen.
He accused the people of taking the law into their hands by killing cows belonging to the herdsmen for destroying their farmlands, instead of reporting the matter to the police. According to the governor, “This battle has overwhelmed us. Do not take the fight upon yourselves because we cannot fight them.Allow government to fight for you.”
The governor also frowned at the lukewarm attitude of security agencies, urging them to intensify efforts in apprehending farmers or herdsmen found culpable of taking laws into their hands.
“Any herdsman that trespasses into a farm with his cows and destroys crops, should be arrested. Same too for any farmer that kills herdsmen should be apprehended,” he advised.
He equally assured that the anti-grazing bill before the state House of Assembly would be passed soon as a solution to the crisis between
herdsmen and farmers in the state.
herdsmen and farmers in the state.
Also speaking, the state Commissioner of Police, Bashir Makam, who accompanied the governor on the trip, said only six persons were killed during the attack.
Makam maintained that the crisis erupted after the herdsmen had come into the area at first instance, grazed and left, noting that at their second coming, an altercation ensued between them and the locals resulting in the killings.
For his part, Amadu Auta who stood for the Ardo of Buruku, claimed that the Tiv people killed three of their cows after an initial attack, an incident he claimed was reported to the police.
But Andiir Akor, an Mbalagh community leader, denied the claim by Auta, saying that the Fulani herdsmen came into the area with 15,000 cows, which they questioned, maintaining that the people did not confront them.
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