Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State has disclosed that attacks by Fulani herdsmen have robbed him of his ancestral home, lamenting that his home town was not only sacked by the armed cattle rearers, but that over 50 of his kinsmen had been killed with over 200 hectares of his rice farm set ablaze.
The Governor, who spoke while receiving the Progressive Governors’ Forum, led by the Imo State governor, Rochas Okorocha, who paid him a condolence visit over the invasion of Agatu and other parts of Benue by the herdsmen, cried out that the destructive activities of the Fulani herdsmen in Benue communities have created 25 years backwardness in the state.
According to him, “The mercenaries invaded my village, killed over 50 persons and destroyed 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.
“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 full well that all we have here are our farms.
“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 N1.3 billion, while our monthly wage bill stands at close to N4 billion.”
The Governor further observed that even after President Muhammadu Buhari ordered the deployment of soldiers and mobile policemen to the state, there had not been any report of the arrest of people behind the recurrent killings.
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