Unknown gunmen have allegedly set ablaze 250 hectares of rice farm belonging to Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State.
Daily Trust gathered that the estimated burnt portion of the rice farm located in the governor’s hometown of Gbajimba in Guma Local Government Area of the state, worth over N100 million.
The manager of the farm, Kena Iordzua, who conducted newsmen around the destroyed portions on Tuesday alleged that the gunmen few days ago came to the farm with a large number of cattle during the day and set the farm on fire at three different points.
Iordzua also said that due to the wild nature of the fire as a result of the harmattan, the inferno could not be put off despite concerted efforts by those who were working on the farm.
He explained that security agents were mobilized to go after the armed men who shot sporadically in the air as they retreated out of the state.
Also speaking, the Principal Special Assistant to the Governor on Special Duties, Abrahams Kwaghngu, described the act as barbaric and a threat to food security.
The Benue State Commissioner of Police, Ene Okon, was however yet to comment on the matter as calls put to his mobile telephone line were not answered as at the time of filing this report.
