Nigeria

Armed herdsmen shot at me in my farm, says Gov Ortom

Monday, January 27, 2020 at 9:15 PM by Jerrywright Ukwu

- Governor Samuel Ortom has raised an alarm over the activities of armed herdsmen in Benue state

- The governor said some herdsmen shot at him when he went to his farm recently

- It is not clear if the governor officially informed the police command of his encounter with the alleged herdsmen

Benue governor Samuel Ortom has revealed that armed herdsmen shot at him in his farm located in the state capital, Makurdi.

Governor Ortom disclosed this on Monday, January 27 while speaking at a live radio programme.

The governor said while he was in the facility, armed herdsmen besieged the vicinity and opened fire on him and his team.

Armed herdsmen shot at me in my farm, says Gov Ortom — Governor Ortom signed the anti-grazing bill into law during his first term to curb the activities of herdsmen in Benue. Photo credit: Govt House, Makurdi
Source: Facebook

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Ortom lamented that in the influx of armed herdsmen into Benue had become a source of concern and worry and needed to be checked urgently.

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It is not clear if the governor officially informed the Benue state police command of his encounter with the alleged herdsmen.

Governor Ortom has been very consistent in his calls for herdsmen to vacate Benue state.

Already, there is an anti-grazing law in place in Benue state and the Ortom administration has been prosecuting those found wanting. 400 herdsmen who broke the law have been arrested by the Benue government so far.

The governor recently rejected moves by the Nigerian military to withdraw soldiers from Benue.

Governor Ortom said the soldiers should stay back in the state until after a year when peace is at least guaranteed.

Some Nigerians on social media have been reacting to the governor's claims.

Bryan Okojie wrote: Imagine herdsmen have the effrontery to attack a sitting governor (Ortom) of a state (Benue), this shows the of confidence they have in their ability in this country. Anybody who thinks it is a child's play will have himself to blame. We all must get prepared.

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Already, governors of the six north-central states have concluded plans to kick-start the framework for effective community policing to tackle the issues of insecurity in the region.

The decision was taken in Lafia, the Nasarawa state capital, at the just concluded Northcentral Security Summit.

Meanwhile, in Enugu, a rice farm with produce worth N17 million in Akpugo in Nkanu East local government area of the state was recently destroyed by herdsmen.

The herders who invaded the farm threatened to deal with anybody who dared to stop their cattle from grazing.

In Ekiti, a magistrates’ court sitting in the state capital, Ado-Ekiti, on Tuesday, January 21 arraigned three herdsmen for alleged unlawful destruction of a rice farm worth N4.5 million.

The accused persons are Nafiu Mohammed (20), Mohammed Audu (20) and Bumba Karba (17) and they were arraigned by the police on a count charge of malicious damage before Chief Magistrate, Mr Adesoji Adegboye.