From Rose Ejembi, Makurdi
The Senior Special Assistant to Governor Samuel Ortom on Animal Husbandry, Alhaji Shehu Tambaya has strongly condemned Saturday’s attack on the governor by suspected armed Fulani bandits.
Governor Ortom was reportedly attacked on Saturday morning while he was returning from his farm at Tyo-Mu community along Gboko Road in Makurdi, the Benue State capital.
The governor had said that he sighted about 15 Fulani armed bandits who were all wearing black and shooting sporadically at his convoy even as he accused the leadership of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore (MAKH) of plotting to eliminate him.
Related: Attempt on Ortom’s life shocking, rude awakening – Governors
Reacting to the incident on Sunday, Tambaya, who described as shocking, evil and unacceptable, the attack on the governor’s convoy, called on security agencies to wade into the matter with a view to bringing the perpetrators to book.
He also appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to ensure that the shoot at sight order he gave concerning anyone carrying sophisticated weapons is enforced.
The governor’s aide, who regretted the dimension that insecurity is taking in the country, accused the leadership of MAKH of having a hand in the attack on Governor Ortom.
He said his boss had done nothing wrong to warrant any harassment from any quarter, stressing that the Benue Anti Open Grazing Law, which herdsmen are not happy, with is a win-win for every Nigerian as it seeks to address the perennial farmer-herder crises.
‘Governor Ortom loves everybody irrespective of political, ethnic or religious inclination. He accented the Anti-Open Grazing Law because he sees ranching as the global best practice and the only solution to the farmer-herder crises in the country,’ Tambaya said.