The Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore has reacted to the attack on Governor Samuel Ortom’s convoy along Tyomu community in Makurdi Local Government Area of Benue State.
Gov Ortom alleged that the attack was carried out by Fulani herdsmen. He said he was waylaid around 11am in Tyomu, a rural community on the outskirts of Makurdi Metropolis.
But the national leadership and Benue State chapter of Miyetti Allah countered, saying the governor was lying.
The national leadership of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore has also dismissed the allegation that it is behind the attack.
Speaking to our correspondent, the National President of the group, Abdullahi Bello Bodejo, said Ortom harboured malice against the group after they sued him over the controversial anti-grazing law he enacted in Benue.
“There was nothing secret about the conference we held in Yola. We called for unity and sensitised Fulani on the need for peaceful coexistence with other people. Ortom lied, we don’t know anything about the said attack.
“Ortom hates Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore ever since we took him to court. We are still in court with him. If he claims we said something in Yola; yes, we called on him to review the law because Fulani are losing their cattle.”
“Journalists (in Yola) asked me about the Benue anti-grazing law; I explained that the law was discriminatory. The Fulani are being fined unjustly. We advised him to review the law because the Fulani are forced to sell their cows to pay fine,” he said.
In the same vein, the Benue State Chairman of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), Risku Mohammed, denied the allegation that Fulani herders carried out the attack on Governor Samuel Ortom.
Mohammed in a telephone conversation told our correspondent that he travelled to Nasarawa State and was not aware of the attack on the governor.
“But, if the governor was attacked when he went to his farm, the Fulani couldn’t have been responsible. They didn’t know he was going to farm so how could they have attacked him? It’s not the Fulani,” the MACBAN chairman stated.
PDP condemns attack, seeks arrest of perpetrators
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in a statement yesterday, condemned the alleged assassination attempt on Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State by gunmen.
In a statement by its Spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan, PDP called on President Muhammadu Buhari to put machinery in motion by ordering an immediate manhunt, arrest and prosecution of the assailants and beef up security around the governor.
“The PDP expresses shock that the assailants trailed Governor Ortom and opened fire on him and his aides along Makurdi/Gboko road, in an attack that by every indication is aimed to assassinate the governor.
“Our party is worried that this brazen attempt at Governor Ortom’s life is coming on the heels of his outspokenness in exposing those allegedly behind the incessant attacks of communities in the state and demanding that the Federal Government to live up to its responsibility on the protection of life and property in the state.
“The PDP fears for the life of Governor Ortom and we urge Nigerians to hold the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led administration responsible over its failure to take a decisive step to check the escalated insecurity and brazen attacks on innocent Nigerians.
“The PDP, however, calls on Governor Ortom not to be deterred by the attack, but to remain courageous and at alert, at all times while providing leadership to the people of his state.
“The party also calls on the people of Benue State to be calm and vigilant while providing useful information to security agencies to flush bandits and criminal elements out of the state and other parts of the country,” the statement read.
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