Gov Ortom raises the alarm over alleged assassination plot

…‘Alleged plot mischievous, false’
Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom has raised the alarm over an alleged plot by Fulani herdsmen to kidnap and assassinate him.

Ortom, who made the allegation during an interactive session with church, traditional institution and some stakeholders in Makurdi on Friday, claimed that he received intelligence report that herdsmen, who are currently occupying parts of Guma Local Government Area, were already hatching plans to attack him along the Abuja-Lafia Road.

He said, “The armed herdsmen, according to the intelligence report, would ensure that all my security aides were killed, after which they would kidnap and torture me before killing me.

“Already, I have reported the matter to the police and other security agencies and they are aware of this.

“Therefore, anytime my spirit doesn’t allow me to travel by road, I would call flight operators. But, just a few days ago, the federal government issued a circular directing that no flight should land in Makurdi Airport again.”

The governor, who also alleged that some Benue indigenes were conniving with other forces in Abuja to kill him, stressed the need for the federal government to urgently address killings across Nigeria by herdsmen militia to pave way for peaceful elections in 2019.

He maintained that most of the polling units in the crisis-affected areas in the state have been destroyed and taken over by the Fulani herdsmen as their grazing fields.

He said, “The killing across Nigeria is a deliberate attempt by some people, either Boko Haram, armed bandits or herdsmen working for the same purpose to disenfranchise large proportion of Nigerians from voting for the leaders of their choice.

“Amnesty International had come out to disclose that over 19, 000 people have lost their lives in Benue, Taraba, Kaduna, Nasarawa and Plateau states to herdsmen attacks and this does not speak well of Nigeria, especially as we are heading towards 2019.”

While lamenting that Benue indigenes have become destitute and homeless in their fathers land, Governor Ortom further disclosed that pockets of killings were still going on in Makurdi, Guma, Logo and Katsina Ala Local Government Areas of the state.

He explained further that most of the farmlands along the borderlines of Taraba and Nasarawa states have been taken over by herdsmen militia who currently occupy the areas to the detriment of the indigenes.

“Even though, a goat doesn’t bite, but when you continue to provoke the goat, the goat will turn back and bite you,” the governor stated.

He attributed the success of his administration’s amnesty programme to the support given to him by the leadership of the Catholic Church in the state.

Calling on international community to beam their searchlights on states affected by herdsmen crisis in the country, the governor urged traditional rulers to go back and enlighten their subjects on the need to register with INEC and obtain their PVCs so as to vote out leaders with questionable characters in next year’s general elections.

But the National Coordinator of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), Garus Galolo, has faulted the claims Governor Ortom about the alleged plot by the group to kill him.

Galolo further described the allegations as not only false but mischievous.