GOV OTOM: 1,878 people killed in Benue within 3yrs in herdsmen attacks

Benue State’s Governor Samuel Ortom on Wednesday disclosed that no less than 1,878 indigenes of the state were killed between 2013 and 2016 alone over attacks by herdsmen.

The killings have been as a result of lingering clashes between farmers and herdsmen in the state.

Ortom made the disclosure when UN Resident Coordinator, Mr Edward Kallon, led a UN delegation on a courtesy visit to his office.

According to the governor, who quoted a report from a research conducted by the State Emergency Management Agency and Benue Planning Commission, in collaboration with NGOs, the killings cut across 12 local government areas of the state.

He also revealed that 750 persons were seriously wounded while 200 others have remained missing till date.

The governor added that 99,427 households were affected and that property worth billions of naira were destroyed.

He said, “A 2014 survey, conducted by the Benue Bureau for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, found out that the destruction by herdsmen exceeded N95 billion in 10 local governments in that year alone.”

Read also: UNIOSUN students in violent protests over disappearance of their colleagues

Ortom therfore called on the UN to see how they can assist the state in addressing the “destructive effects” of the attacks and the challenges the state now battles with.

Speaking earlier during the visit, Kallon promised that the UN will support the state in tackling security challenges.

Kallon, who sympathised with Ortom over the lingering clashes, said the UN will make provision for institutional architecture that will help prevent conflict in Benue.

In efforts to stem the tide of the killings from herdsmen attacks, the state government had passed an Anti-Open grazing Bill into law which the governor vowed to enforce through every means possible.
He had also recently given herdsmen in the state till November this year to either ranch their cattle or leave the state.

 

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