Gov Ortom’s Quit Notice On Herdsmen, And Matters Arising, By Joseph Orjime

The governor of Benue state, Dr. Samuel Ortom has given a 48 hour ultimatum to armed Fulani herdsmen to leave the Benue communities perpetually under their attacks.
Given Governor Ortom’s antecedents on peace building initiatives between the marauding herdsmen and the Benue farmers, one cannot but notice the sheer frustration being expressed by the governor in the face of continuous pogroms.

The governor’s stance on peaceful coexistence, and his constant advocacy for same, has no doubt pitched him against several Benue indigenes who lose their loved ones, properties and farmlands due to attacks from suspected Fulani herdsmen.
It is noteworthy that these suspected Fulani herdsmen  have sustained onslaught on Benue communities for several years, ranging from Guma, Makurdi, Gwer West, Agatu, Logo, Buruku, Kwande, Gboko, Tarka and Gwer East Local Government Areas, to mention but few. In most of these areas, hundreds of lives have been lost, and property worth millions of naira destroyed.
While these killings have persisted for many years, it is repugnant to know that there has been no arrest or prosecution of any of these marauders. The Buhari -led federal government, which Ortom has since been lobbying for assistance has decided to remain silent on this genocide, thereby creating the impression that it stands with the herdsmen.

Following the governor’s directive to the security agents to ensure the exit of the Fulani herdsmen from Benue state as a last resort, the state commissioner of police, Mr Bashir Makama has been quoted as faulting him on that decision. The Benue police boss was said to have cited the constitutional rights of freedom of movement, attributing same to the Fulani herdsmen.
Mr Makama is right in all ramifications. But what he has failed to allude to, in his defence is the “inalienable and the constitutional rights of the Fulani herdsmen to carry sophisticated weapons about, graze their cattle freely on people’s farms, kill anyone who dares ask them to stop, and commit all sorts of atrocities.”

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I challenge Mr Makama to produce or mention one Fulani man that has been arrested and prosecuted for carrying fire arms under his watch as the commissioner of police in Benue. No wonder the widespread suspicion that these herdsmen are wreaking havoc with the full backing of security forces. Or how else could they carry on with such impunity as if they are above the laws of the land.
If the police under Mr Makama have failed to provide security for Benue people against the massive killers, what else does one expect from a helpless governor like Ortom to do than give such directive?
Rather than blame the governor who is doing his job as the Chief Security Officer of the state, Mr Makama should cover his face in shame. I advise the police authorities to relieve him of his position for gross incompetence. Or better still, transfer him out of Benue state.
It was the sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III that said, and I quote, that “the armed Fulani herdsmen rampaging across some states in the north and in the south, leaving violence in their wake are not Nigerians but foreign terrorists.” Sultan Abubakar said this in his Eid -El Kabir message to the Muslim ummah, as reported in Sun Newspaper of 12th September, 2016.
According to him, “they are therefore terrorists and should be treated as such, by the security agencies.”
Why then? What moral justification has anyone to allow “foreigners” to continue to cause mayhem, and to decimate the farming population in the Food Basket of the Nation?  If there was any time to expel these terrorists from Benue state, the time is now!

Joseph Orjime, is a Journalist and Public affair analyst sent in this piece from Abuja.