By Wisdom Nwedene
Over the past few days now, there was a pandemonium in Benue State which claimed 50 lives. The nefarious act was carried out by Fulani herdsmen which led me to ask myself whether these herdsmen are actually humans or animals when I looked at the ugly or graphic pictures of how Benue Indigenes were slaughtered like cows. It has become crystal clear that these herdsmen value cows more than human lives.
Well, the deed has been done but I was shocked when I read the news of how Ortom was crying like a baby and equally revealed that Buhari has totally abandoned him.
According to him…
“Let me be frank. The Federal Government has not done enough. When this incidence started with the threat from the president and secretary of Miyetti Allah, Kauta Hore, who addressed a press conference and issued threats that they will do everything possible to frustrate the Benue State Government from implementing the anti-open grazing law, we quickly drew the attention of the Inspector General of Police, the Director General of the Department of State Services, DSS, and even the office of the National Security Adviser.
‘’The leadership of Miyetti Allah called the law names: that it was draconian and had no place in the 21st century. We saw that as a threat to our existence and in June 2016, we reported to the then acting president (Prof. Yemi Osinbajo) and to our surprise, these people were not apprehended.
“When they saw that no one was going to apprehend them, they went further to issue more threats. In October 2016, we reminded the IGP, the DSS and the NSA of the potential violence that we faced in Benue State as a result of the threat from the Miyetti Allah. We, specifically, demanded that the two officers of the Miyetti Allah, the secretary and the president, be arrested, but unfortunately, they were not arrested. I do not know why the Federal Government has abandoned us. If they had acted that time, we would not have gotten to where we are today.”
This statement quoted above left me speechless this morning and couldn’t believe a Governor can make such a statement.
Since the Governor seems to be helpless, I want to kindly remind him of what Governor Fayose did when the Fulani herdsmen invaded Ekiti State. He didn’t wait for president Buhari to come to his aid instead he acted immediately and ensured that his people were protected.
Fayose signed into law a bill which prohibits the grazing of
cattle in the southwest region by herdsmen. According to Dailypost which is one of the media platforms that reported the news back then reported that Fayose appended his signature on Monday, August 29 2017 in front of an audience of about 3,000 traditional chiefs in Ekiti state.
Fayose didn’t stop at that level, he equally equipped his men and chased the Fulani herdsmen away wherever and whenever saw them in order to make sure that these law becomes effective.
The same last year (2017) when Fayose was going to Ikole Ekiti today, he came across herdsmen along Afao Ekiti road, Ado Ekiti.
The governor demonstrated the seriousness of the State Anti Grazing Law by personally seeing to it that one of the COWS was “arrested” by youths who chased the cows after the herdsmen ran into the bush upon seeing the governor’s security men. The remaining cows ran into the bush too.
Governor Ortom this is the best time for you to act, not crying out to the public
My advice for you is to learn from Fayose. Below are photos of Fayose chasing Fulani herdsmen away in Ekiti state…
(Wisdom Nwedene is a writer, Freelancer, newspaper editor and publisher. Contact me via : [email protected])
