Again, Ortom raises alarm over ongoing killings of his people by herdsmen

Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom has again raised the alarm that the state is still under siege by Fulani herdsmen, as pockets of killings by the marauding group were still going on at a reduced rate.

Ortom disclosed this when a delegation of All Progressives Congress (APC) governors, led by Kashim Shettima of Borno State, paid him a condolence visit yesterday in Makurdi.

He reiterated that though the state in the past few days had enjoyed relative calm, but with the continued threats and pockets of killings, the number of influx into the refugee camps had risen to over 80,000.

Ortom maintained that with the threats constantly issued by the Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, his people were living in fear, hoping that his colleagues would assist in putting a permanent end to the incessant attacks on his subjects by Fulani herdsmen.

He appealed to the Federal Government not to discard any security report sent to it by leaders in the society, adding that, “they are on ground and know exactly what is happening within their domains because they get reports from their subjects on a daily basis.”

He said that he would forward the recent threats by the organisation to the Federal Government and security agencies for appropriate action because they had earlier issued threats and they executed it on January 1, 2018.

Earlier, the leader of the delegation, Shettima said that they came to identify with one of their own over the unfortunate incident, stressing that anything that affected one of them affects all.

The Borno State governor further said that they shared in the pains as well as grief of their colleague and his subjects. He promised on behalf of his colleagues that they would do everything within their powers to complement the efforts of the federal government in bringing lasting peace to Benue and the entire country. 

Other members of the delegation include governors Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna, Yahaya Bello of Kogi, Mohammed Abubakar of Jigawa, Simon Lalong of Plateau and the Deputy Gov. Of Osun, Mrs Grace Laoye-Tomori.