Ortom, Al-Makura want FG to check influx of migrant herdsmen

Cleric tasks El-Rufai on southern Kaduna crisis
Governors of Benue and Nasarawa states, Samuel Ortom and Tanko Al-Makura, have implored the Federal Government to urgently check migrant herdsmen from entering the country to prevent the build-up of crisis on the Nasarawa bank of River Benue.

This was contained in a communique issued at the end of a joint security meeting between the two states held in Makurdi, Benue State capital, yesterday.

The communique, read by Ortom and also signed by Al-Makura as well as Ada Agatu, Chief Godwin Onah and Ardo Fulani Agatu, Ardo Boseti Tuja, expressed concern at the proliferation of sophisticated weapons and ammunition in the two communities and called on security agencies in the states to take necessary steps to check the trend to forestall a recurrence of crisis.

Ortom said: “It is resolved that the indigenous Fulani herdsmen will graze in Agatu land after the harvest season at the end of February 2017.

“The two governors will make a case to the Federal Government, donor agencies, development partners, voluntary organisations and philanthropists to assist the victims of crisis in the affected communities of Benue and Nasarawa. In this light, my government will make a donation of N20 million while my Nasarawa counterpart will give N10 million.”

In another development, the Prelate of the Methodist Church, Dr. Samuel Chukwuemeka Kanu Uche, has admonished Governor Nasir el-Rufai to take the blame for the Southern Kaduna crisis as a price of leadership.

He also urged him not to relent in his quest to restore peace and security in the troubled zone.

The cleric said this when he visited the governor yesterday.

Uche, accompanied by the Methodist bishops of Kaduna and Kano said: “We call on the people of Kaduna State to accept each other, to be tolerant, and to say no to violence.

I have served in Kano. I do not see why we should fight each other. Nobody can Christianise or Islamise Nigeria. Religion should preserve lives. Anybody who kills is a criminal. Those who sponsor killings should be arrested.”