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Under Threat for Hosting Mass Burial, Benue APC Leaders Search for New Political Platform

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Leaders of the All Progressives Congress in Benue State led by Governor Samuel Ortom are in search of a new political platform ahead of the 2019 general election following threats from Abuja that Ortom could be denied the party’s ticket for hosting a mass burial for victims of herdsmen attack, THISDAY has learnt.

A deadly attack launched by herdsmen on New Year’s Day had claimed 73 lives in Guma and Logo local government areas of Benue, plunging the state into grief. The state government later announced its plans to hold mass burial for all the victims in the state capital.

Worried by the security implication of holding such mass burial and the negative publicity it could generate for the Buhari administration, THISDAY gathered that the presidency dispatched top security chiefs and political advisers to the state to persuade the governor to shelve the idea with a warning that conducting such a burial could lead to reprisal attacks in other parts of the country.

The presidency, THISDAY learnt, was jolted by the refusal of Governor Ortom to heed its appeal to shelve plans to hold the mass burial for the victims of the deadly attacks.

THISDAY, January 28, 2018

 

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