Follow Us on Google
From Rose Ejembi, Makurdi
Leaders of the three major socio-cultural organizations in Benue State -Mdzough U Tiv, MUT, Ochetoha K’Idoma and Omi Ny’Igede, have asked the Fulani herdsmen umbrella body, known as the Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore (MAKH) Fulani herdsmen umbrella body, to be ready to take not just Governor Samuel Ortom, but the entire Benue people to the Hague.
The groups in a statement jointly signed by their leaders; Chief Iorbee Ihagh rtd. (MUT), AVM Tony Adokwu rtd
(Ochetoha K’Idoma) and Dr Comrade Ben Okpa, (Omi Ny’Igede) raised serious concern over the continuous outbursts by MAKH and the Fulani herdsmen whom they noted, have continually unleashed mayhem on Benue people under the guise of grazing their cattle.
“We wish to place on record that in Benue State in particular and Nigeria in general, the Miyetti Allah herdsmen milia under the guise of grazing their cattle, have visited pogrom on innocent people leading to displacement of over 1.5 million people from their ancestral homes with farmlands no longer accessible.
“Hundreds have been orphaned and wives widowed. Peasant farmers who had hitherto contributed immensely to making Benue the Food Basket of the Nation can no longer go to their farms for fear of being killed in cold blood.
“The Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore as a group is infamously known for their terror activities which they perpetrate with crass impunity and lawlessness and have continued to vehemently resist every lawful effort made by the government of Benue State under the leadership of Governor Samuel Ortom to guarantee peace and security of lives and property in the State.
The groups noted that the MAKH, in its usual campaign of victimization and antagonization of Governor Ortom’s efforts toward ensuring peace and security of Benue people, recently openly threatened that they would drag Governor Ortom to the International Criminal Court of Justice in the Hague for what they claimed abuse of their rights and seizing of 25,000 cows belonging to their members.
While describing the threats as ridiculous and nauseating, the Benue socio-cultural groups maintained that the terrorist atrocities committed by the Miyetti Allah group against Benue people and elsewhere across the country are fresh in the minds of all good spirited Nigerians.
They posited that for the group to turn around and play the victim is a deliberate callous mischief to twist the narrative.
“In any case, as law abiding citizens, we as leaders of the socio-cultural groups in Benue State, hereby state categorically that the Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore must be prepared to take all Benue people to the Hague, and not only Governor Ortom.
“We must emphasize that Governor Ortom as a leader we popularly elected, has our total mandate and we are fully in support of every lawful initiative by his administration to tackle security challenges to bring about enduring peace in the State.
“We state irrevocably that the orgy of bloodletting in Benue by Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore will be vehemently resisted by our people using every available legal means.
“Miyetti Allah should not think they would blackmail, intimidate and victimize Governor Ortom and the rest of Benue people into silence about the unprovoked and coordinated killing of our people.
“Governor Ortom is fighting a just cause for our people and we are fully in solidarity with him as any attack on the Governor is an attack on the entire Benue people who will never surrender their ancestral lands to herdsmen jihadists on a conquest agenda,” the statement read in part.
