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From Rose Ejembi, Makurdi
Benue State governor, Samuel Ortom, has lamented that the state is currently housing close to one million internally-displaced persons (IDPs).
The governor who made the lamentation at Uikpam IDP Camp in Guma Local Government Area where he had gone to celebrate his 60th birthday noted that out of the current 6.5million population of the state, almost one million of that population are IDPs.
He, however, urged the IDPs not to despair or be pushed to the point of taking laws into their hands, but keep faith and be hopeful that justice would be served someday.
Governor Ortom said even though attaining 60 years of age was remarkable, he could not imagine celebrating elaborately when there are over 27,000 refugees in the Uikpam camp and over 800,000 in the entire state.
“We have a population of 6.5 million and close to 1 million as refugees. Therefore, I wish to call on humanitarian partners who have been doing well and charitable organisations to look at the plight of the refugees which is beyond the state.
The governor also seized the opportunity to warn the youths against attacking security personnel deployed to their domains, saying such attitude must not be allowed to fester in Benue.
“I want to warn the youths not to attack security agents. Nobody should contemplate harming them because without them I am not safe, our fathers and mother are not safe; we are not safe as a people. They have chosen to sacrifice their lives without adequate personnel to ensure we are secured.
