By Amos Aar
BENUE STATE Security Council (SEC) has given a 2-week ultimatum to people operating open grazing within the state to comply with the state’s Open-Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Law, 2017 or leave Benue immediately as the law is still in force in the state.
This was part of the resolutions reached at the end of the state security meeting presided over by the Governor Hyacinth Alia on Tuesday at Government House, Makurdi.
Briefing newsmen shortly after the meeting, the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Tersoo Kula, said the Council also constituted a 7-man committee to ensure the enforcement of the ultimatum which would begin on Wednesday.
While calling on the people of the state to remain calm and be security conscious as the state government is making efforts to secure the lives and property of the people of the state, the SEC tasked security agencies, traditional rulers and the general public to report for prosecution, any person found in the habit of colluding and inviting the armed herders into the state.
Governor Alia, and stakeholders in the state particularly federal legislators from Benue had in the past couple of days resorted to accusations and counter-accusations about alleged invitation extended to herdsmen militia from neighboring countries to come and occupy Benue State.
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While the National Assembly Caucus from Benue State accused Alia during their recent press conference of inviting the herders to come and occupy the state to fulfill his alleged campaign promise to them for alleged support the herders rendered him, the Governor in turn alleged that some federal lawmakers from the state wrote a letter to herdsmen secretly on behalf of the Benue State Government, inviting them come and occupy the state so as to destabilize his administration. According to the Governor, he discovered this through security briefs he received.
In a trending video, the governor said “they are looking for anyhow ways now. They said there was no money. But when we came on board, we said although there is no money, we will construct roads, provide electricity, pay pension and salaries. So, they became unhappy over these achievements. They also said that Pope is sending money to me from abroad to pay people.
“Now, it has been discovered that some people from the National Assembly have written a letter in the name of the State Government and went to the border with Niger and invited Fulani to come and occupy Benue State that there is no problem again.
“So, these are the kind of bucket (bokoti) people we are dealing with and that is why you are seeing heavy influx of herders into Benue State. It is even people who are indigenes that are doing this. I wonder what they are thinking. But they are doing that, thinking they can discredit my government but none of them will succeed in their plot”
The Governor’s description of the National Assembly members from Benue as “bucket people” stirred reactions on social media platforms with some people posting old iron buckets while others designed T-shirts with the inscription, “ubokoti mbaihorov”, to create fun and mock the lawmakers.
Alia also repeated the same accusation during a meeting with various unions in the state held at Government House, Makurdi on Monday.
He said: “I feel quite sad! However, as the security report has it on good authority, there are certain people who are responsible for the influx of the herders in the state. “They even went out of their way, to go all the way to the Nigerien border to invite the herders to come in; that the law they had in Benue before was then, and so nothing is going to happen”.
