Rose Ejembi, Makurdi
Benue State Government has berated the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim Idris, for blaming the recent killing of innocent citizens by herdsmen on the Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law in the state and calling for its suspension.
A release signed by the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Samuel Ortom, Terver Akase, stated that the statement credited to the IGP clearly showed that he was on a mission to mislead the nation.
The statement read: “IGP Idris needs to be reminded that Fulani herdsmen attacked Benue State more than 50 times and killed scores of people before the Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law was enacted in the state. The law could therefore not have been the cause of the crisis.”
“The IGP should tell Nigerians if states like Adamawa, Zamfara, Kaduna, Nasarawa, Enugu, Edo, Plateau, among others, where armed herdsmen have killed hundreds of people also have anti-open grazing laws in place.”
Akase recalled that a few days after the killings took place in Benue and all fingers were pointed towards the direction of armed herdsmen, the IGP quickly rose in defence of the herdsmen and frantically tried to divert attention from the genocide being perpetrated by herdsmen with a comment that it was a ‘mere communal clash’.
“Did he not know that there was a law in place in Benue State when he made that statement? With his latest demand that the ranching law of Benue be suspended, it is now clear where the loyalty and interest of the Inspector General of Police lies – certainly not with innocent Nigerians.
He has now positioned himself not only as the mouthpiece of those who are killing Benue people but indeed as their shield.”
“Little wonder herdsmen still proudly carry out sophisticated weapons and willfully terrorize innocent people in the state without being arrested. We wish to place it on record that contrary to the directive by President Muhammadu Buhari that the Inspector General of Police should relocate to Benue to ensure that the killings stop, the IGP spent only one day in Benue and left for a destination where only he could tell. No one has seen him in Benue since that day,” the statement added.