We Wrote To Yemi Osinbajo On The Planned Attack On Parts Of Benue State – Samuel Ortom

Samuel Ortom of Benue state has said that they had knowledge before the plans by Fulani herdsmen to attack several villages in the statewas made known.

The Governor also said “We wrote to the Vice President on the planned attack on parts of Benue by Fulani herdsmen, because the word was everywhere on the street, but he refused to reply.

“When there was no response, and upon the return of Mr. President, I personally went and intimated him, and also wrote. The documents are here, I will hand them over to you. I wrote to him on the planned attack by Fulani herdsmen because these threats were on the streets.”

“I wrote to the Inspector General of Police, I told him of a planned attack on our people. When there was no response, on October 27, 2017, I reminded him that these people are planning to attack us, and that we are law-abiding people; we have disarmed our youths, and we are looking onto security agencies. And the way to do it is to arrest those people, who were inciting the herdsmen to combat us, and we knew they were going to come.

“These people were all over the place; on television, in the papers doing various press conferences, and they eventually took us to court. But we felt that it was a crime for anyone to incite people against us for the purpose of killing or causing harm and destruction.

“So we expected them (security agencies) to act, but there was no action… I also wrote to the Director General of the Department of State Security (DSS). And when there was no action, I followed it up with a reminder on October 27, 2017… Of course the National Security Adviser invited us for a meeting twice, but the meetings were put off,” he added.