Herdsmen Attack Benue Again; Sack Gov Ortom’s Village and Kill 50

Herdsmen Attack Benue Again; Sack Gov Ortom’s Village and Kill 50

Rampaging Fulani herdsmen have wreaked enormous havoc on the country home of Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State, killing over 50 of his kinsmen and destroying over 200 hectares of his rice farm.

The Governor made the disclosure on Thursday where he pointed out that the incessant killings and destruction of lives and property in Benue state had created a 25 year retrogression of development in the state, Vanguard writes.

“The mercenaries invaded my village, killed over 50 persons and destroying over 200 hectares of my rice farm. As I am sitting here, I have no ancestral home, they killed children, old men and women in my community,” Ortom told the All Progressives Congress, APC Governors’ Forum led by Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo state, who paid him condolence visit

“The mercenaries come to Benue not just to graze but to steal, kill and destroy the livelihood of the agrarian people after which they take possession of the land knowing fully well that all we have here are our farms.

“The truth is that these attacks have brought a major setback to the people especially with our declining revenue from the federal allocation which was about N7 billion before i assumed office but this month stood at N1.3billion while our monthly wage bill stands at close to N4billion.

The Governor, who advocated the ranching of cows in the country, lamented the seeming inaction of the federal government to the wanton destruction of lives and property perpetrated by the marauding herdsmen.

Responding on behalf of his colleagues, Governor Okorocha decried the bloodlust of these herdsmen and called for an immediate end to it.

“We are here to show solidarity and our dislike to what happened here, a criminal is a criminal whether they are Boko Haram, herdsmen or whichever group,” Okorocha said.

“Benue state is central and key in Nigerian politics and these killings have to stop in the interest of peaceful coexistence of our people.”