Benue rejects Fulani herdsmen, says state has no land for grazing

By The Citizen

Benue State governor, Chief Samuel Ortom, has raised the alarm that his people  were  being suffocated by the invading herdsmen.

The governor, who spoke while receiving  the House of Representatives members on Complaint and Public Safety,  at the  Government House, Makurdi, lamented the pains the people are passing through due to the invasion of the herdsmen, which he said, had already been compounded by economic hardship.

'This is a trying period for us in Benue State. At present, we cannot pay salary of  workers due to reduction in federal allocation to the state and the only area we ought to get succour is  farming, which many of us have embraced. Regrettably, no one can go into farming now since the herdsmen have taken over our farmlands'.

'As I am talking to you, about eight local government areas in the state had already  been  taken over by  the  Fulani herdsmen.'

The council areas  are; Buruku, Tarka, Guma, Gwer West, Makurdi, Katsina Ala, Kwande and  Agatu.

The governor, who lamented the  poor state of the  economy and the pains the herdsmen had already inflicted on the people of the  state, said  there is the need to  assist the affected people.

He, however, criticised the  policy of creating grazing routes and grazing land for cattle as archaic, saying that 'in Benue State, we do not have land for grazing.

Ortom  urged the government  to follow Europe and other nations that had embraced cattle ranch where basic infrastructure are provided for herdsmen

Earlier, the committee chairman, Honourable Aminu Jaji, had said that his committee  was   in the  state on a  fact finding mission  on the crisis, saying that the house regretted the killings that took place in Agatu Local Government Area of the state. - Tribune.