Ortom reiterates call for Miyetti Allah to be tagged terrorists

Benue State governor, Samuel Ortom has reiterated his call for the leadership of herdsmen, Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, to be tagged as terrorists.

The governor was reacting to Miyetti Allah’s recent call for the declaration of a state of emergency in Benue and Taraba states.

The national president of the Miyetti Allah, Abdullahi Bello Bodejo, had in a recent interview made the call on the basis of the crises between farmers and herdsmen that have left hundreds of farmers dead in those two states.

But Ortom, in a statement by his media adviser, Tahav Agerzua, reiterated that the group be declared a terrorist organisation and that their leaders should be arrested and prosecuted, adding that the group’s emergency call was tantamount to punishing those states that have performed their legitimate constitutional responsibilities of enacting laws for good governance.

“The call is unrealistic, untenable and unacceptable because many other states across the six geopolitical zones of the country have been affected by similar crisis, sometimes at a greater magnitude than the two states, yet the call does not include them.

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“Incidentally, what Benue and Taraba states have in common is the enactment and implementation of ranches laws which prohibit open grazing. These laws were made in accordance with the 1999 Nigerian Constitution as amended, to curb incessant clashes between farmers and herders that had taken a huge toll on human lives and property in the two states,” Ortom said.

Worried over the “failure of Police” to arrest the people, the governor warned that “attributing the enactment of the law to nonpayment of workers’ salaries is untenable;” especially as several states who are having difficulties paying workers salaries have not because of that resorted to the enactment of a similar law.

According to Ortom, Benue State government has since January 18, rigorously been following steps to regularise payment of workers in the state.

 

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