Barely one week after armed herdsmen invaded six communities in Benue State, killing no fewer than 50 persons, Governor Samuel Ortom, has accused the Federal Government of ignoring the state’s persistent calls for assistance. He also said the headquarters of perpetrators of the attacks and their leaders are based in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Governor Ortom in an interview with Daily Sun, accused the Federal Government of not doing anything over herdsmen’s attack in Benue, revealing that the authorities were notified over threats to attack the communities but nothing was done.
“The security in Benue State is doing its best. It is not that the perpetrators are not known. They are known, and we’ve been reporting them. They are coming from other parts of the country to attack us. But their headquarters and their leaders are in Abuja. And it’s not that they did not inform us; we were threatened and we reported this to the authorities, the security authorities of this country, and nothing has been done,” said Ortom.
The governor said Miyetti Allah’s leaders issued a threat after he signed the anti-open grazing law.
According to him, “they threatened that, first, they would not accept the law, and they would do everything to stop the implementation, that they would go against it, and they will mobilise their members to fight and frustrate the implementation. We reported them. They did not issue this threat once. They issued it several times through press conferences. They are on video, they are on audio, they were published in the papers, that they were going to attack the state, and we reported them.
“So, it is not that they are not known. The police are aware, the DSS are aware; the NSA is aware of this.”'
Ortom said he would concentrate on solving the killings in Benue and, therefore, would not engage in politics for now.
Said he: “Let me tell you, I am not talking about politics now. Whether presidency or no presidency, governor or no governor; whether I am re-elected or not, that is not my concern. My concern now is how I will stop the killings that are going on, because I cannot be politicking with dead people; I am not a dead man,” he said, his nostrils belching fire.
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