Ortom meets Buhari, as deputy visits Agatu again

As the gravity of the killings and damages inflicted on the people of Agatu Local Council in Benue State continues to worry the minds of the people, Benue State Deputy Governor, Benson Abounu has led top government functionaries in charge of health and human services to meet with victims of the crisis.

This is even as Governor Samuel Ortom yesterday met with President Muhammadu Buhari at Aso Rock, Abuja, on the same issue.
The deputy governor’s visit to the camps of the internally displaced people followed a decision by the state Security Council meeting that Governor Ortom lead a team on a working visit to the camp to assess all areas of need of the people and what to do to ameliorate the manifold sufferings of the people.

Abounu told the people at the three camps sited at Ugbokpo, Ojantele and Ataganyi that the governor had to suddenly leave for Abuja to meet again with President Buhari on the Agatu crisis.

The deputy governor who said the invasion, destruction and killings in Agatu was so organized and systematic; far beyond comprehension, called on the Federal Government to treat it as a national crisis.

He decried the situation where occupation of Agatu land seem like the objective of the attacking forces and wondered if indeed the attacks given their sophistication, organization and level of destruction could be the sole work of the ordinary Fulani herdsmen who before now had no problems with the Agatu people.

Abounu who thanked President Buhari for listening to their requests for increased security and for tripling the presence of soldiers and police deployed to the area called for investigation of these attacks.

He also called for more assistance from the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to the internally displaced people who he said are going through horrendous experience.

The Odejo “K’Apa, Chief John Antenyi thanked Governor Samuel Ortom and the deputy governor for their responsiveness to issues affecting Agatu and Apa people.

He commended the government for their timely intervention and assistance to the internally displaced people and their efforts to ameliorate their sufferings.

The deputy governor who was accompanied by the Executive Secretary, State Emergency Management Agency, Boniface Ortese, commandant of the Nigeria Civil Defence and Security Corps (NCDSC), Andy Angwumba, Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Chief Odeh Ageh, representative of the Commissioner for Health and several Special Advisers.