Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue, on Tuesday, July 27, 2021, in Markudi, the state capital, said he would rather lose his life than surrendering land to Fulani herdsmen.
Ortom, who last month (June 2021) expressed readiness to give land to the herdsmen for ranching, made a U-turn, saying they deserve no land because “they have made over a million homeless (people) in his state.”
The governor, however, maintained that the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government is well equipped to address the insecurity issue of Benue, especially as it concerns bringing killer herdsmen to book.
“Our people are dying, our women, mothers are being raped, our children can’t go to school, they are suffering.
“These criminals, they display themselves on social media, claiming they are here for an agenda to drive our people away and take over their land and also kill them. And they are here courtesy of Federal Government but for me, if they come, then I’m ready to die than to surrender my land to Fulani men. If God didn’t protect me, then I need no help from anybody.”
“The spate of insecurity has also led to increased internal displacement which is now commonplace in most parts of the nation’s food basket as statistics continue to swell on what seems to be a daily basis with many more communities sacked from their ancestral home by the persistent attacks with no hope in sight for their safe return home,” he added.
