Benue Killings: Ortom lied, provided Nigerians with “terrible falsehood”, Osinbajo refutes governor’s claim, as President Buhari meets state’s leaders in Villa

*As Buhari calls for restraint, directs IGP to arrest perpetrators of Jan 1 killings

*No hint as to arrest of perpetrators of over 1,000 Fulani killed – Source

*Appeals to Benue to accommodate others

…Buhari has clear plans to end clashes – El-Rufai

“To the best of our knowledge, neither Governor Ortom nor the Federal Government was aware of the imminence of the cowardly attack on Logo and Guma on January 1, and, therefore, any suggestion that the President or the vice-president ignored the state governor’s warning is both absolutely false and certainly misleading,’’ he said.

The Vice-President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, on Monday, denied receiving any letter from Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, warning him of attacks planned by herdsmen.

His statement came on a day President Muhammadu Buhari, the Benue governor and other stakeholders from the state met in the Aso Rock Presidential Villa over the need for lasting solution to the crisis which has lingered long even before the sitting government came to office.

During the meeting, both President and governor were said to have disagreed on the need for cattle ranching understood by Ortom as “cattle colony” to be created to enable herdsmen rear their cows without encroachment on farmers’ land areas.

While the President asked the governor and other leaders in the state to accommodate herdsmen in the state, Governor Ortom said Benue State had no land to give for cattle colony.

In a statement by Senior his spokesman, Mr. Laolu Akande, Osinbajo expressed shock over the governor’s claims, which he described as a “terrible falsehood.”

Ortom had said he alerted President Muhammadu Buhari, Osinbajo, the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, of the planned attacks by herdsmen but that they allegedly ignored it.

Reacting to the allegation, Osinbajo said neither him nor the other parties the governor claimed to have alerted got any letters on the situation.

Akande explained that Ortom wrote the vice president a letter dated June 7, 2017, protesting the opposition and resistance of Miyetti Allah to the anti-grazing law, adding that he had also received a letter from the leadership of Miyetti Allah on their reservations about the law.

He said: “It will be a terrible falsehood to suggest that the VP was ever informed by the governor or anyone else of the imminence of the killing of citizens of our country in those or any other local governments in Benue State.

“Governor Ortom wrote to the Vice President, then Acting President, on June 7, 2017, protesting a newspaper publication where the leadership of Miyetti Allah was reported to have stated that it was opposed to the Open Grazing Prohibition law of the state and that they would mobilize to resist the law.

“The Miyetti Allah had written to the Vice President on June 5, 2017, on the same law protesting several sections of the law.

“The governor went on to say that the leadership of Miyetti Allah should be arrested because they used words such as “wicked, obnoxious and repressive,” to describe the law, and because these were utterances that were capable of undermining the peace…”

He said upon receiving the letter, Prof. Osinbajo met with Ortom to discuss the security issues in the state, and ordered security agencies to be on the alert.

He said, however, that there was no mention of any threats of attacks from the herdsmen in the letter written to him by Ortom.

“The Vice President subsequently met with the governor, discussed the matter and the security situation in the State and then ordered law enforcement agencies to be on the alert to prevent any attacks or violence. This was in June 2017!

“In the said letter written by the governor, there was no mention of any threat to any  of the 23 local governments of Benue State, so the best the law enforcement agencies could do even then was to await information or intelligence of an imminent attack. None came.

“Since then the VP has held several meetings with the Benue State governor, including a visit to the state on September 6, last year, at the behest of the President, during the tragic floods in the state last year.

“At all such meetings, the vice-president discussed the security situation of the state with the governor.

“Following that, the then acting president (Osinbajo) convened a major national security retreat which was attended by all state governors, service chiefs and heads of security agencies. The retreat featured very detailed discussions on the herdsmen/farmers’ clashes.

“To the best of our knowledge, neither Governor Ortom nor the Federal Government was aware of the imminence of the cowardly attack on Logo and Guma on January 1, and, therefore, any suggestion that the President or the vice-president ignored the state governor’s warning is both absolutely false and certainly misleading,’’ he said.

A source, who spoke under condition of anonymity told The DEFENDER that he had no hint as to whether the President also gave order for perpetrators of killing of over 1,000 Fulani herdsmen, their defenceless and children to be fished out as well or not.  Buhari’s Fulani background has been in serious blackmail from the utterances of opposition, who want the head of the President because of their make-believe that his tribe being herdsmen means his implementation of Northernisation and Islamisation in Nigeria.  But the apparently patient but committed President appealed to the government and people of the state to accommodate Nigerians from other states and ethnic groups in Benue.

Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari, on Monday, met with political and traditional leaders of Benue State at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, pleading with them to accommodate herdsmen in the state.

He also directed the Inspector General of Police, IGP, Ibrahim Idris, to fish out the herdsmen that were behind the massacre of over 70 people in five communities of Guma and Logo local government areas of Benue State.

A source, who spoke under condition of anonymity told The DEFENDER that he had no hint as to whether the President also gave order for perpetrators of killing of over 1,000 Fulani herdsmen, their defenceless and children to be fished out as well or not.

Buhari’s Fulani background has been in serious blackmail from the utterances of opposition, who want the head of the President because of their make-believe that his tribe being herdsmen means his implementation of Northernisation and Islamisation in Nigeria.

But the apparently patient but committed President appealed to the government and people of the state to accommodate Nigerians from other states and ethnic groups in Benue.

In a statement issued in Abuja Monday by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, President Buhari called on the government and people of Benue State to exercise restraint as he assured that all the perpetrators of violence in the state will be made to face the wrath of the law.

The President commiserated with all the victims of the attacks, and the families who lost loved ones and properties, noting that the government would make efforts to ameliorate the situation of all the victims.

He said relevant agencies had been directed to start catering for the humanitarian needs.

Buhari said: “Your Excellency, the governor, and all the leaders here, I am appealing to you to try to restrain your people. I assure you that the Police, the Department of State Security (Services) and other security agencies had been directed to ensure that all those behind the mayhem get punished.

“I ask you in the name of God, accommodate your country men. You can also be assured that I am just as worried, and concerned with the situation.”

The president told the delegation that his administration had already begun a process of finding a lasting solution to the perennial challenge of herdsmen conflict with farmers and communities around the country.

He said the Inspector General of Police had been directed to relocate to the state to provide security for lives and properties, urging all Benue indigenes to trust the security agencies and report all suspicious cases of movements in the state.

However, Benue leaders, led by Governor Ortom, insisted that President Buhari should cause the arrest of leaders of Miyetti Allah, who they accused of being behind the killings in the state and had also been issuing threats after the attacks.

Addressing State House correspondents after the meeting, Governor Ortom said the people of the state made it clear that there was no large expanse of land to be donated for cattle colonies.

Ortom, who explained that the meeting was on the instance of leaders from the state, said: “As you can see, I am here with the entire leadership of Benue State, members of the National Assembly, the Tor Tiv, Ochi Idoma and the leadership of Benue State House of Assembly and other very distinguished sons and daughters of Benue State.

“You are aware of the challenge we had since January 1 up to this moment. Several people were killed, more than 60,000 people displaced, we are still counting.

“We thought it was wise as the father of the land and as the President of our country that there is need to meet with him to interface with him.

“At a personal level, I spoke to the President on phone on the 1st of January when this incident occurred and he responded promptly. And I followed it up with a visit; he directed the relocation of IGP to Benue State, in addition to sending us additional troops from the military.

“So the situation as at today, is relatively calm, though there are pockets of issues. For the past five days, we have witnessed two killings compared to what was happening before in Logo local government.

“Other places are relatively calm; the security men with the IGP and the Benue State government have been working day and night to ensure that we bring the situation under control and stop the killings.

“There are still security issues from one town to the other, like some few days ago, we had an uproar in Makurdi local government, headquarters of Benue State, where some hoodlums wanted to take advantage. That is one of the things we have discovered, they try to create confusion so that they can go in there and loot.

“We have made it known that for us in Benue State, there is no room for anyone taking laws into his hands. It is expected that even when you are offended or someone violates the law, the best thing to do is to report, by that we will be able to met out sanctions on such people. But when you take laws into your hand, you are inviting anarchy and we will not accept this.

“So we are here to appreciate Mr. President for providing security, yesterday (Sunday) we also received relief materials based on his directives to NEMA and is being shared among the five IDP camps that we have in Benue State.’’

Present at the meeting were Benue State Deputy Governor, Benson Abounu; former Senate President, David Mark; former Benue State Governor, Senator George Akume and Senator Barnabas Gemade.

Others include Senator JK Waku, Gen. Lawrence Onoja (retd), Brig. Gen. John Atom Kpera (retd), former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Michael Aondoakaa; Speaker of Benue State House of Assembly, Terkimbir Kyambe, and other members of the national and state assemblies from the state.

…Buhari has clear plans to end clashes – El-Rufai

Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State, said, on Monday, that the Federal Government has very clear plans to end herders/farmers clashes in the country.

The governor told newsmen after laying wreath to mark the Armed Forces Remembrance Day in Kaduna that the issue is being tackled head-on.

“We met with the Minister of Interior, there are very clear plans to curtail these issues, I don’t want to speak about security programmes on radio and television, but I want to assure everyone, the President and other security agencies are doing their best,’’ El-Rufai said.

He noted that security is a continuous challenge in every society and the involvements of the military have helped to stabilize the country including parts of Kaduna State.

He said the recent donation of $1 billion from Excess Crude Account by state governors were for the purchase military equipment to support the armed forces in securing the country.

“The Nigerian armed forces have contributed significantly to the development of the country in maintaining unity and integration, and in protecting the lives of citizens and controlling security challenges.”