The Governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom, has accused a group of Fulani elites of plotting to eliminate him over an attack that saw the killing of scores of herdsmen in Nasarawa State.
Ortom made the allegation on Thursday, February 2, 2023 at a press conference in Makurdi , where he accused some personalities from the Fulani extraction, led by the former Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, of making all manner of accusations against him with the a sinister intension of preparing grounds for his elimination.
Ortom said a petition was written against him and sent to President Muhammadu Buhari by a group led by Sanusi signed by 52 personalities accusing him of masterminding the killing of some pastoralists via bomb attack at Akwanaja in Doma Local Government Area of Nasarawa State.
He said the petition also mentioned Benue State Livestock Guards in the killings, claiming that the pastoralists were bombed on their way to Nasarawa after retrieving their seized cattle in Benue.
“I’m being targeted for elimination, Ortom said.
He further shared his concerns: “I consider these allegations and blackmail targeted at my person and the Government of Benue State as part of a grand conspiracy by enemies of the state to eliminate me. Since 2017 when we enacted the Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law, I have escaped seven assassination attempts.
“Those behind the evil plots have not hidden their motive. They have made me an enemy for choosing to stand with my people and defending their rights to life and freedom. The recent utterances of some personalities such as Lamido Sanusi have revealed the true identities of those behind the sinister agenda to eliminate me. But my life is in the hands of God and only He can permit anything evil to come my way.”
The Governor said he has no hands in the killing and said he has written a counter-petition on the matter to be delivered to the president
He added that, upon hearing the bombing incident in Doma in which the pastoralists were killed, he visited his Nasarawa State counterpart, Governor Abdullahi Sule, to sympathise with him and his people over his son’s death and victims of the bomb incident.
“I must state categorically that the Benue State Government under my leadership has no hand in the Akwanaja incident. Linking me with the bomb attack in Doma, Nasarawa State is the most unfair thing anyone would do to me.
“How am I connected or responsible for what did not take place in my state? Akwanaja is in Doma local government area of Nasarawa State, so how do I account for what did not take place in my state? I am Chief Security Officer only in Benue State.”
