Benue State governor, Dr. Samuel Ortom has charged Benue indigenes to rise up in self defence as Fulani militia intensify attacks that again left 23 dead with several others injured.
The fresh attacks by the Fulani militia on two communities on Monday left 23 dead, a development that saddened the governor and surviving citizens.
In a statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Nathaniel Ikyur which was obtained by CAPITAL POST in Abuja on Wednesday, the Governor consequently directed “his people to rise up to defend themselves forthwith.”
No fewer than 8 persons were mowed down on Monday night by Fulani herdsmen who invaded Mbadwem in Guma local government area and 15 in Tiortyu in Tarka local government area of Benue state.
Scores of others were injured and are receiving treatment in unnamed hospital in the state.
An angry Ortom who could not hide his anger said that “it is becoming increasingly glaring everyday that my people are now an endangered specie and so we can no longer wait for help from anywhere. My people will have to rise up to the occasion to defend themselves and their heritage against the Fulani army of occupation.”
He added: “We are law abiding citizens. We have cried for help against these invaders but nothing is forthcoming. We are left alone and it looks like it is a deliberate strategy. Now we have only one option; to defend ourselves or get extinct. This is a case for our survival.
“We have been accommodating of other people in our land but our hospitality is misconstrued as weakness. We are not a conquered people. We will never be. We are free born citizens of Nigeria”, the Governor declared.
Governor Ortom nevertheless enjoined security operatives to do more in crime prevention and protection of lives and property in the land just as he urged the people to cooperate with security agencies to flush out the undesirable elements in the society.
The state government, he said, will not shy away from its commitment to provide welfare and the security for the citizens.
