No campaigns in Benue till crisis is over – Ortom

•Says Buhari hasn’t visited Benue after New Year killing of 73
people
•Alleges that Miyetti Allah press statements were being issued from
Abuja
•Adds hersdsmen activities beyond grazing; just a continuation of
jihad

Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, has said there would be no
campaigns for the 2019 elections in the state, if there was no
solution to the clashes between herdsmen and farmers in the
state.

Speaking in an interview on an online TV programme, The Osasu
Show, in Makurdi, Benue State, the governor said he invited
President Buhari to console the people of the state over the
killings and destruction of their property but lamented that the
President did not honour the invitation.

He said, as President, Buhari was supposed to provide citizens
of the country with security but had failed to take the required
action to curb the killings.

He said: “For now, my primary concern is to stop these killings;
to ensure that the IDPs go back to their homes and live peacefully.
Once that is done, we can talk about other things.

“I don’t care about what happens tomorrow. Even if I am not
governor, I can stay back and fight for the right of my people.

“When we visited, we even invited the President to come to Benue
State and pay his condolences to his people. We are members of the
party (All Progressives Congress, APC,), he is our President. If
these people are attacking us, we expect him to give us
security.

“He has done a number of things. He directed NEMA to provide
relief materials; he also asked for security to be beefed up, but I
am not satisfied with what the Presidency is doing on this matter.
There is no doubt about that. I ask for justice for Benue people
because we have not been treated fairly.”

Ortom said the attacks on Benue was an act of vengeance by
herders for losing the 1804 Jihad, stressing that Benue people
stopped them from penetrating the state through Sokoto.

He said though he did not know the level of “support the herders
get from the Presidency”, he was sure that the press statements by
the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association were issued by people
living in Abuja.

Beyond grazing

“These people have gone beyond grazing, it is about invading the
land and taking over. All the places they have attacked, they have
chased the people away and they are using their farmlands’ produce
as feed for their cattle.

“They are conducting international conferences, issuing press
releases and writing on social media and they have come out to say
look, in 1804 Jihad, it was Benue people that stopped them from
penetrating from Sokoto to the sea.

“This time around, they are not going to stop. They will make
sure that they mobilise all Fulani men across the globe, especially
from the West African sub-region to ensure that they acquire arms
and come and invade and take over the land.

“Because they also said Nigeria is the only land that God has
given them, so no other person will supervene on this land except
them; that it is their own land, they got this land by conquest and
we have no business staying on this land. It is unbelievable. The
statement is coming from Miyetti Allah.

“Well, I wouldn’t know about their patrons or the extent of
their involvement. But one thing I know is that the people that
have been issuing these press statements are known. They are living
in Abuja, they are living with the powers-that-be,” Governor Ortom
said.

Asked why he has not met with the Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad
Abubakar III, and Emir of Kano, Lamido Sanusi, to call the herders
to order, Ortom said it was the responsibility of the Federal
Government to enforce the law.

“Why will I sit down with them? We have constituted authority
over this country. And it is the responsibility of the Federal
Government to enforce the law. We expected them to have acted,” the
governor said.

Governor Ortom had been at daggers-drawn with the Federal
Government since herdsmen killed no fewer than 73 indigenes of the
state on new year day.

The relationship between both governments was further soured by
the remarks of the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, who,
without any investigation, had concluded that the killing was a
result of communal clash, though he recanted later, and the Defence
Minister, Mansur Dan Ali, who blamed the killings in Benue State on
the anti-open grazing law enacted by the state government.

Since the new year day killings in the state, there had been
several others, including those of policemen and operatives of the
civil defence corps.

•Says Buhari hasn’t visited Benue after New Year killing of 73
people
•Alleges that Miyetti Allah press statements were being issued from
Abuja
•Adds hersdsmen activities beyond grazing; just a continuation of
jihad

Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, has said there would be no
campaigns for the 2019 elections in the state, if there was no
solution to the clashes between herdsmen and farmers in the
state.

Speaking in an interview on an online TV programme, The Osasu
Show, in Makurdi, Benue State, the governor said he invited
President Buhari to console the people of the state over the
killings and destruction of their property but lamented that the
President did not honour the invitation.

He said, as President, Buhari was supposed to provide citizens
of the country with security but had failed to take the required
action to curb the killings.

He said: “For now, my primary concern is to stop these killings;
to ensure that the IDPs go back to their homes and live peacefully.
Once that is done, we can talk about other things.

“I don’t care about what happens tomorrow. Even if I am not
governor, I can stay back and fight for the right of my people.

“When we visited, we even invited the President to come to Benue
State and pay his condolences to his people. We are members of the
party (All Progressives Congress, APC,), he is our President. If
these people are attacking us, we expect him to give us
security.

“He has done a number of things. He directed NEMA to provide
relief materials; he also asked for security to be beefed up, but I
am not satisfied with what the Presidency is doing on this matter.
There is no doubt about that. I ask for justice for Benue people
because we have not been treated fairly.”

Ortom said the attacks on Benue was an act of vengeance by
herders for losing the 1804 Jihad, stressing that Benue people
stopped them from penetrating the state through Sokoto.

He said though he did not know the level of “support the herders
get from the Presidency”, he was sure that the press statements by
the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association were issued by people
living in Abuja.

Beyond grazing

“These people have gone beyond grazing, it is about invading the
land and taking over. All the places they have attacked, they have
chased the people away and they are using their farmlands’ produce
as feed for their cattle.

“They are conducting international conferences, issuing press
releases and writing on social media and they have come out to say
look, in 1804 Jihad, it was Benue people that stopped them from
penetrating from Sokoto to the sea.

“This time around, they are not going to stop. They will make
sure that they mobilise all Fulani men across the globe, especially
from the West African sub-region to ensure that they acquire arms
and come and invade and take over the land.

“Because they also said Nigeria is the only land that God has
given them, so no other person will supervene on this land except
them; that it is their own land, they got this land by conquest and
we have no business staying on this land. It is unbelievable. The
statement is coming from Miyetti Allah.

“Well, I wouldn’t know about their patrons or the extent of
their involvement. But one thing I know is that the people that
have been issuing these press statements are known. They are living
in Abuja, they are living with the powers-that-be,” Governor Ortom
said.

Asked why he has not met with the Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad
Abubakar III, and Emir of Kano, Lamido Sanusi, to call the herders
to order, Ortom said it was the responsibility of the Federal
Government to enforce the law.

“Why will I sit down with them? We have constituted authority
over this country. And it is the responsibility of the Federal
Government to enforce the law. We expected them to have acted,” the
governor said.

Governor Ortom had been at daggers-drawn with the Federal
Government since herdsmen killed no fewer than 73 indigenes of the
state on new year day.

The relationship between both governments was further soured by
the remarks of the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, who,
without any investigation, had concluded that the killing was a
result of communal clash, though he recanted later, and the Defence
Minister, Mansur Dan Ali, who blamed the killings in Benue State on
the anti-open grazing law enacted by the state government.

Since the new year day killings in the state, there had been
several others, including those of policemen and operatives of the
civil defence corps.