21st March, 2021
By Kazeem Ugbodaga
Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to institute thorough investigation into herdsmen attack on Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom.
Atiku also said there was need for the president to rejig the nation’s security architecture, despite changing the service chiefs.
Ortom was attacked on his farm by 15 gun-wielding killer-herdsmen who opened fire on him on Saturday in Benue.
The governor said he ran one and half kilometres on foot to escape being killed by the gunmen as his security men exchanged gunfire with the assailants.
Atiku condemned the attack, saying it was worrisome.
He said there should be a constitutional framework that empowered the states to control their internal security.
“The reported attack on Gov Samuel Ortom is worrisome and stands condemned.
“I hereby call for a thorough investigation into the matter and restate the need for a rejig of the nation’s security architecture and a constitutional framework that empowers the states to control their internal security,” he tweeted.
On Saturday, Ortom narrated how he was saved from the bandits.
According to him, “I appreciate the security men attached to me. They were able to repel them and they could not have access to me.
“And I thank God for my fitness to have run for more than one and a half kilometres without stopping. It means that God has given me strength and I am grateful to God.
“I don’t have problems with any Fulani man or Fulani race. But I have a problem with Fulani bandits who have vowed to take over Nigeria as their ancestral home. And I say no. Not when I am here and when I am governor leading my state.”
Ortom said if he as a governor could not go to farm with the entire security around him, he wondered who else could go to farm.
He wondered about the pains that the people of Benue State are facing, he said.