President Muhammadu Buhari, on Monday, appealed to leaders of various groups in Benue over the recent Fulani herdsmen attacks in parts of the state.
This was contained in a statement issued on Monday by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina.
The president who spoke at a Town Hall meeting in Government House, Makurdi urged the stakeholders to convince their constituents that the Federal Government is doing its best to end the repeated attacks by Fulani herdsmen in various parts of the country.
President Buhari appealed to Benue people not to take the law into their hands but allow security operatives to curtail the situation.
President Buhari said,
“The governor and I, and others here know that we will leave one day, but the relationship between farmers and herders will continue. I urge you to keep in touch with them and advise them to live peacefully. Nigeria has over 250 ethnic groups with different cultures and nobody can question God for putting us together.”
The president explained that he was not used to publicly rebuking his appointees but preferred to quietly “read the riot act” as he did to the Inspector General of Police when the Benue attacks started.
He disclosed that he shared the IGP’s security report on the Benue crisis with two Senators from the state; George Akume and Barnabas Gemade.
President Buhari, while extolling the efforts of the Minister of Agriculture, Audu Ogbeh, an indigene of Benue State, promised that his government would continue to empower farmers with loans by the Central Bank of Nigeria.
Speaking also at the parley, Governor Ortom thanked the president for visiting and listening patiently to the representatives of socio-cultural groups, farmers, herdsmen, national and state legislators, former leaders and elder statesmen, among others.
The governor described Buhari as “a father known for his integrity and fight for justice.” He said the attacks by herdsmen had displaced 170,000 people with children of school age constituting 60 per cent.
Governor Ortom requested for support for ranching, compensation for victims of the attacks and rebuilding of destroyed houses and farms.
He called on the Federal Government to fix some of the state’s major roads and take over the state polytechnic and college of education. He also urged the Federal Government to upgrade the current military exercise to a “military operation.”
