eritvnews: Herdsmen Made Their Mission Clear – Gov. Ortom

The governor of Benue state has stated in clear terms that the Fulani Herdsmen intensified attack on Benue state after the anti-grazing law was passed.

According to the governor, the Herdsmen saw the anti-grazing law as a law that have been enacted to prevent their proposed ethnic cleansing and the Herdsmen issued stern warnings and intensified the killings of Benue people.

Governor Orton said this when he hosted Professor Wole Soyinka who was on a solidarity visit to Benue state on May 22, 2018.

Soyinka in his comments insists that it is time to cry out to the international communities to intervene and stop the ongoing ethnic cleansing.

Governor Ortom in his response, said the recent events in the state were a combination of ethnic cleansing and jihad.

He said: “This is not a hidden agenda, it’s known, and those people who are perpetrating it did say it. They have not hidden it. They held press conferences, they came out and said they were going to resist our law, that they were going to do ethnic cleansing, it’s about Jihad, it’s about taking over the land, it’s not about herders and farmers’ clashes.

“They said it clearly, and it’s written, and we have the documents and have reported them to the security agencies. I agree with you, but as law-abiding citizens, we don’t even have cutlasses to fight back.

“We cannot use any weapon to fight back; we depend on the law enforcement agencies. Even the cutlasses that we used to have were taken over by security agencies.

“Our dane guns, the Inspector General (of Police) said we should surrender them, including those that were licensed. So we are left in the hands of the security men. Those of them who are posted in Benue State are doing their best, and they have been victims of these attacks too.

“Several policemen have been killed in the course of this crisis. Soldiers and the Civil Defence are not spared. The State Service (Department of State Services officials) are not also spared. They have been killed and slaughtered like animals.

“So, like you rightly said, this is not a matter of ringworm but real cancer. If there were any other word stronger than cancer, I would have said what is happening in Benue State is more than cancer. And like you rightly observed, it is our responsibility to rise to defend the unity of this country and to defend our integrity as leaders.”