Benue, Niger people blast FG, threaten to pull out of Arewa over attack on Ortom

The attack on the life of Benue state governor, Dr Samuel Ortom, by suspected Fulani herdsmen has taken a worrisome dimension as the indigenous people of the Niger Area and Benue Valley have threatened to pull out of union with Arewa and forge ahead as an entity of its own.

The people also express disappointment in the Federal Government for what it described as being deceitful by deployment of detachment of operatives to investigate a crime whose perpetrators are known.

They expressed dismay at the incapacity of security agents to apprehend Miyetti Kyauta Hore leaders who they accused to have masterminded the attack on the governor.

The Middle Belt Forum, MBF, categorically affirmed the position of the indigenous people via a communique signed by the National President of the MBF, Dr Pogu Bitrus, and the Chairman of the Elders’ Council of MBF, Air Commodore Dan Suleiman (retd), after a meeting that was attended by elders and leaders from all the 14 states of the Middle Belt Region and the FCT.

The Forum declared that the attack on Governor Samuel Ortom by Fulani armed bandits amounted to a declaration of war, stressing that such assault was aimed at overwhelming “the Governor and the entire democratic structure in that State which is a coup D’état.”

The Forum categorically affirmed that the “indigenous peoples of the Niger Area and Benue Valley hereby give notice that it is no longer comfortable in the unhappy marriage for the convenience of the Arewa and is ready and prepared to forge ahead as an entity of its own or in alliance with other groups/regions who are prepared to cast off the chains of Fulani hegemony.”

The communique also expressed shock at the reckless, daring, audacious and brazen attack on Ortom.

According to communique, “The Forum expressed dismay at the incapacity of security agents to apprehend Miyetti Kyauta Hore accused to have masterminded the attack.