Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom has urged citizens to embrace peace in the state and end cattle swooshing and attack of Fulani herdsmen in retaliation.
Ortom, who made this statement at an emergency stakeholders meeting in Makurdi, admonished the people to report any violation to an appropriate authority for action.
The governor warned that anybody who swooshes cattle and kills Fulani herdsmen would face the wrath of the law, stressing that the Anti-Open Grazing Law protected both herdsmen and farmers.
He disclosed that the law was against cattle swooshing and prohibits cattle from grazing openly, especially on farms; he upheld that there were stiff penalties attached to the offenses.
Otom also disclosed that 80,000 people had been registered as Internally Displaced Persons at the five camps opened by the state government as a result of the Fulani herdsmen killings.
He further called for unity and peace among his subjects irrespective of their political and religious affiliations to enable them to tackle the security challenges that had bedeviled the state.
Meanwhile, Amb. Iyorwuese Hagher, a former Nigerian Envoy to Canada, advocated for State Police, stating that it would assist in curbing the security challenges that surrounded the country.
