By Bayo Bernard
Governor Samuel Orthom of Benue state would have been shot and killed on March 20 by, according to him, alleged Miyetti Allah killer squad. He said they laid ambush for him with the intention of snuffing life out of him over his rigid stand on open cattle grazing. But the attack was repelled by the governor’s brave security guards who whisked him into safety.
The yet to be identified assassins had attacked the governor on his farm at Tyo-mu village, along Makurdi – Gboko road. But Ortom and his security aides were lucky to escape the bullets of the suspected killers, as the governor claimed he ran about 1.5 kilometres on foot to escape the attempt on his life.
Narrating his escape Governor Ortom said “You know today is Saturday and as a farmer, I usually go to my farm, so I went to my farm along Gboko road and on our way back, we started hearing gunshots and we discovered people who were dressed in black and from experience we now discovered that these are Fulani militias.”
He said those after his life mean business. “I didn’t want to take things for granted because few days ago the media were awash with a statement from MACBAN who met in Yola, the same place they met in 2016 where they decided that they will take Nigeria and that every other person is a slave. That was when they started infiltrating the entire country.
“They came out with a statement, I was alarmed that they singled me out as the only person who is creating problems for the entire Fulani race and behind the scenes I also heard that in the meeting, I was targeted for elimination; this was the information I got that they will go after me either in my home, farm or wherever they get me,” Ortom said.
In the wake of the attack which has been widely condemned by all and sundry, there are suggestions in some quarters that the governor orchestrated his own attack in order to further drive home the point that a vested interest in the country is trying to silence him over his campaign against Fulani herders.
Governor Ortom has denied this suggestion.
“Unashamedly though, the spin masters have again followed up with their relentless efforts at tarnishing the Governor’s image. They now claim the attack was stage managed with motive at land grabbing! This latest funny claim is coming on the heels of unsuccessful attempts at denying there was an attack. In furtherance of the lie, a non-existing group (Tyo Mu Concerned Youths Vanguard) with a faceless individual named Vershima Tsebee as the group’s leader, has been credited with advancing this latest ridiculous assertion. The individual claims that the Government has done nothing about the crisis between the Kparev and Ihyarev people at Tyo Mu. Nothing could be further from the truth,” Raymond Bemseer Magen, Principal Special Assistant on New Media to the governor said.
This possibility, however, is one of the difficult knots the IGP Intelligence Response Squad, IR led by Abba Kyari, a Deputy Commissioner of Police, will try to untie as his team tries to unmask those that are actually behind the attack on Governor Ortom, even as the magazine learnt that the Presidency is poised to get to the bottom after the state’s helmsman met President Muhammau Buhari in Aso Rock, Presidential Villa, Abuja few days after the deadly attack.
According to sources in the Villa, the President’s aides have been divided on how to handle the matter, particularly as they failed to agree on whether the governor’s claim that he was being targeted over the Fulani herdsmen issue is true or not. While some aides believe that the governor life’s may actually be in danger due to his unrelenting campaign against open grazing, others are skeptical, because they feel that the vexed problem of farmers/ herders in the state has been over dramatized by the Governor, bearing in mind that Benue is not the only state in the country where clashes have been recurring in recent times.
“That is why the President told Governor Ortom during the meeting with Ibrahim Gambari, his Chief of Staff and other top aides in the Presidency that he will keep an open mind on the matter until security agencies are able to come up with their findings. You must have also read what the President said during the meeting that the attack must not be politicized, even though he did not rule out the fact that the Governor’s life may be at risk due to the tension between farmers and herders in the state.
“The president has also directed security agencies to look on the possibility that some fifth columnist in the state may be trying to cause violence in the state by targeting some top political actors, which could lead to bloodshed and finally set the state on fire,” a top presidential aide said.
According to another Presidential aide who did not want his name to be mentioned because he was not authorized to speak on the matter, Benue state has been a flash point due to the rivalry between the major political parties, the PDP and APC, adding that the farmers/ herders issue only added fuel to fierce contest for power among the major state and non-state actors.
He said “this is not the first time that a governor of the state had been attacked. Former Governor George Akume was attacked a few years ago that led to the death of a popular person in the country. At that time, the problem of cattle grazing had not become this contested, even though there were few clashes here and there, but the government was able to put it under control because there was a consensus between the government at both the state and federal level, on how to peacefully handle the matter, without generating the furore that it has now received, partly due to the fact that the same party controlled power at both levels of government.”
He further explained that the problem continued during the tenure of Governor Gabriel Suswam but that the PDP which controlled the levers of power had made sure it did not become an altercation between the state government and the federal government.
He said this has changed since Governor Ortom came to power, particularly after he defected to the PDP from the ruling APC before contesting for a second term in office. “You will understand that Governor Ortom has become even more critical of President Buhari and his government over his belief that the Presidency has failed to rein in the deadly herders because of his Fulani ancestry. But that is not actually true if you consider, critically, the steps the president has taken in trying to bring peace to the troubled state,” he said.
President Buhari, in his reaction to the attack on Ortom, said the string of brutal attacks on individuals and communities in the state, with the latest one targeting the governor, was unacceptable to his administration. According to a statement released by Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant to President Buhari on Media and Publicity, the President has directed the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu to unmask those behind the attack on Ortom, as well as individuals and communities in the state. “Let there be an open and transparent investigation and whoever is linked to it should be caught and be made to face the law,” the president said.
President Buhari who spoke on the heel of the IGP dispatchement of a team of crack investigators to the state from the Police headquarters in Abuja to unmask the attackers, has also ordered the police boss to beef up Governor Ortom’s personal security to prevent any future attacks, presidency source said.
“The Inspector-General of Police, IGP M.A Adamu, NPM, mni has ordered full-scale investigations into the circumstances surrounding the attack and reported attempt on the life of the Executive Governor of Benue State, His Excellency, Chief Samuel Loraer Ortom, at his farm in the outskirts of Makurdi, the State Capital, on Saturday, 20th March, 2021. The IGP who condemned the incident, has equally directed the Commissioner of Police (CP), Benue State Command to take adequate measures towards strengthening and improving security in the State, particularly around the Governor,” Frank Mba, FPPRO said in a statement.
He added that “The IGP has also specifically directed the CP to carry out painstaking investigations into the incident and ensure the arrest and prosecution of persons indicted in the course of the investigations. Meanwhile, in order to ensure a speedy, thorough and conclusive investigation into the matter, the IGP has ordered the immediate deployment of a team of specialized investigators from the Force Criminal Investigations Department (FCID), Abuja to Benue State to provide additional investigative support to the Benue State Police Command.
“While calling for calm, the IGP has assured the people of Benue State and the country at large that the Force will continue to do its best in stabilizing the security situation in the country. The IGP further reiterates that the Force will continue to work with relevant stakeholders to advance the fight against violent crimes and other criminal activities across the country,” Mba said.
The magazine learnt that the state Police Command had launched an investigation in the wake of the IGP’s order, but worried that the investigations could be slowed unnecessarily due to limited resources and personnel. Adamu was forced to dispatch the Abba Kyari, Deputy Commissioner of Police, team to the state to take over the investigation.
The new team, Mbah said, “led by DCP Abba Kyari – a no-nonsense investigator – consists of operatives from the Tactical Investigation Units of the Force Intelligence Bureau (FIB) and other experienced, crack detectives with specialized competencies in crime scene investigation and reconstruction, ballistics, fingerprint analysis and other core areas of forensics,” he said.
“The Team is expected to take over and consolidate all on-going investigation into the incident. The Team is also expected to investigate all angles of the reported attack with a view to ensuring that all persons empirically linked to the incident are apprehended and brought to book.”
According to Mba, the IGP has also directed the Kyari-led team to be professional and thorough in their investigations. Adding that “They are expected to liaise and work with the Benue State Police Command and other relevant members of the law enforcement community to ensure that they deliver on their mandate.”
Considering the outrage that has greeted the matter, many Nigerians expect the investigators to get to the bottom of the attack bearing in mind that this is the third time that Governor Ortom has escaped the bullets of suspected assassins.
Speaking on the latest attack, Governor Ortom said his narrow escape from those that wanted to take his life was purely by the grace of God. “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.”
At a point during the attack, the governor said, he had to run for his dear life when his personal security details engaged the suspected assassins in a gun duel, adding that his fitness really helped him in running a long distance to escape the attackers. “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.
In spite of the attack, Governor Ortom said he will not back down on his campaign against Fulani pastoralists as long as they continued on the destructive path. He, however, debunked suggestions that he’s against the Fulani as a people, noting that the criminals who are the subjects of his campaign must be fished out by security agencies.
Ortom said “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.
“If I can’t go to farm as a governor with the entire security around me, then who else can go to farm? You can imagine the pains that we have here in Benue State.Thank God for Mr President who responded to my letter that anyone with an AK-47 rifle should be shot on sight. I’m yet to see that. Let me see it happen in Benue State. I have reported this to the security agencies and I hope that this will be done so that the land will be safe for our people to go back to farm and do their work and survive and live their lives.
“I want to call on Mr President, on the security agencies to fish these people out. They are in the forest between Makurdi and Abinse. They are living there and they are coming out to commit atrocities – rape women, kill our people, maim them, destroy our farmlands. And anytime the security agencies go after them, they run across the river and back to the forest, the governor said when he met the president on March 23 in Abuja.
Governor Ortom’s admonition comes on the heels of a statement by a shadowy group, Fulani National Movement, FUNAM that it was responsible for the attempted assassination. According to a statement released by the group on March 22, FUNAM said its aim was to kill Ortom.
FUNAM said “Our courageous fighters carried out this historic attack to send a great message to Ortum and his collaborators”, the group claimed in a statement signed by Umar Amir Shehu.
“Where ever you are, once you are against Fulani long term interest, we shall get you down. This is a clear warning. We hope those who take us for granted will get the indisputable message. Our intention is unequivocal: TO KILL HIM. That mission will one day be fulfilled and very soon too”.
It further warned that the attack on Governor Ortom is a strong warning to other persons and groups in the country working against Fulani interest that such will not be tolerated as the group will hunt them down. “We warn collaborators working against Fulani people across Nigeria: WE SHALL GET YOU irrespective of your hidden place.We state clearly, any state or individual that opposes RUGA will be confronted. Any State or individial(Sic) that opposes ranching, we shall get you. Speak against ranching and RUGA even on the internet: Our Noiseless fighters shall find and fix you.In the next few months, FUNAM will carry out attacks on strategic human and material assets of States and Non State groups or individuals known for their anti-Fulani campaigns.We shall hunt you down in your houses, in your work places, in your car, in your streets. It’s a matter of time,” the group said.
Meanwhile, the centrist Fulani social, political Miyetti Allah association has distanced itself from the attack on Governor Ortom, insisting that its members had nothing to do with the assassination attempt on the Benue helmsman. Governor Ortom is not convinced.
Reacting, the Governor had linked the assassination attempt to Miyetti Allah (Kauta Hore) Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, MACBAN.
Governor Ortom claimed that MACBAN had concluded plans to assassinate him over his position on open grazing, alleging that the Myetti Allah took the decision to eliminate him during a meeting they organised recently in Yola.
The State has been on edge following the passage of the open grazing law by the state government which has been rejected by major Fulani groups in the country who consider the legislation to be against the general interests of their people, adn have vowed to resist it at all cost, including seeking legal remedy to stop the state government from implementing the law passed by the Benue State House of Assembly and signed by Governor Ortom in 2017.
The Fulani groups are particularly angry that Governor Ortom’s campaign against herders has sparked violence attacks against pastoralists of Fulani stocks across the country, including Oyo, Ondo, Ogun where Yoruba activists, led by Sunday Igboho have given Fulani herders quick notice to leave the South West. The campaign to stop open cattle grazing has also been stepped up by separatist groups in the South East, where the Nnamdi Kanu-led Indigenous People of BiafraI, POB’s security arm Estern Security Network, for instance, has been attacking Fulani cattle herders who graze on farmlands of late.
Despite ongoing plan by the Federal Government in conjunction with some State Governments to establish ranches or grazing reserves, as a lasting solution to the incessant farmers/ herders clashes, analysts insist that the leadership of Fulani in the country is not happy that their people are no longer safe across the country while performing their legitimate duties. They, therefore, hold Governor Ortom responsible for being the harbinger and orchestrators of the hate attack on the Fulani ethnic group.
But analysts disgaree. According to this line of thought, Governor Ortom is not the first to speak against open grazing. Former Governors Lam Adesina and Ayodele Fayose of Oyo and Ekiti states, respectively, had at one point spoken against open cattle grazing and the need to put an end to the menace. The issue had become a big problem in Ekiti State where then Governor Fayose’s Government enacted a similar law to regulate the activities of Fulani cattle rearers, some say.
In 2001, Governor Adesina was said to have lashed out at Buhari after the latter tried to take sides following bloody clashes between herders and farmers in Oke Ogun area which led to death on both sides, when Buhari visited the State Governor in Agodi Government House.
The attack on Governor Ortom has further enlisted the herders’ menace on the frontline of national discourse as prominent Nigerians have generally criticised the incident, calling on the Buhari administration to take the security of life and property more seriously across the country.
Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State said if the attackers had succeeded in killing Ortom, there will be “no more Nigeria.” Wike who recently settled the Benue Governor and his counterpart in Bauchi, Bala Mohammed, after the latter said fulani herders must be allowed to carry AK-47 said “If you kill Ortom, then be prepared to bury Nigeria. If anything happens to Governor Ortom, the Federal Government will be held responsible and they should be prepared that there will be no more Nigeria.”
The PDP, Governor Ortom’s party said it was shocked at the attack, urging the federal government to step up its responsibility to protect lives and property.
On its part, the Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF also condemned those after the Governor’s life, however, noting that most of the attacks and killings in Benue State are purely as a result of politics.
“We should not always blame what is going on in Benue State on Fulani herdsmen alone. In most cases, the Tivs also have the share of the blame of attacks and other crimes committed in the state,” ACF said.
For Governor Ortom, there is no going back on his war against Fulani herders as it is a matter of life and death for his people. “We are winning,” he said “because Miyetti Allah and MACABAN have accepted that ranching remains the best option to rear cattle.
