MICHAEL JEGEDE l Friday, January 05, 2018
ABUJA, Nigeria – Immediate past Minister of Interior, Comrade Abba Moro, has asked Samuel Ortom of Benue State to resign his position as governor, due to his inability to take proactive measures to prevent the incessant killings and destruction of properties of Benue people by alleged herdsmen.
Expressing sadness over the manner and way defenseless citizens of Benue State were being slaughtered for no just reason, Moro, a member of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), said in a statement that Ortom does not deserve to remain as governor, in his obvious incapacity to halt the heinous massacre and bloodbath.
The ex-Minister issued the statement in reaction to the latest coordinated attacks by suspected herdsmen on six communities in Benue State that reportedly left over 50 persons dead.
“It is sad that mindless wanton killings of citizens heralded the New Year in Benue State, a very sad way to start a new year. It shows that the implementation of the good intentioned anti-open grazing law has left a lot room for improvement. Benue State is in serious crisis that calls for leadership. What is playing out in Benue State however is a clear demonstration of cluelessness and the lack of capacity on the part of the governor and the government to stand out to be counted.
“It shows that lamentations and blame game would not offer the solutions Benue State desperately needs in the current herdsmen/farmers impasse and the slide of the state to a failed state. The recent reaction of Benue youths to the presence of the state governor at the scene of protest was a clear message of enough is enough to the state government,” Moro avowed.
The PDP stalwart added that “The government of Benue State has consistently refused to be proactive in dealing with crisis since inception. Despite warnings of impending flood nothing was done about it until flood disaster struck. Now the governor admitted that government was aware of impending invasion yet nothing was done to mobilize security to identify vulnerable soft targets to avert the current mayhem. The only way forward now is to go back to the basics and engage all stakeholders in frank discourse with a view to finding lasting solutions to the lingering farmer/herdsmen crisis.
“The security apparache in Benue State must be constructively engaged in order to effectively discharge the security responsibility expected of them. The continued massacre of Benue citizens by invading fulani marauders is reprehensible, condemnable and unacceptable. By now the government of Benue State should know that its cosmetic approach to the intractable herdsmen/fulani crisis in Benue State is not working.”
