What Law Permits Herders to Carry AK-47 – Ortom Tackles Bala.
The Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom has blasted his Bauchi state counterpart, Bala Mohammed, over the latter’s supposed for killer herdsmen.
Recall, on Thursday, that Mohammed said Fulani herders carry AK-47 for self-defense because cattle rustlers are attacking them due to government’s failure.
He also accused Ortom of worsening the herder-farmer crisis by criminalizing the entire Fulani across the country.
However, in a statement on Friday by his spokesman, Terver Akase, Governor Ortom expressed shock over the Bauchi governor’s support for herdsmen bearing arms.
He wondered which section of the law the Bauchi Governor cited to support herdsmen’s free movement around the country with sophisticated weapons.
“Governor Ortom wonders which section of the law the Bauchi State Governor cited to support herdsmen’s free movement around the country with sophisticated weapons.
“He recalls that it was the same Governor Mohammed who once said on national television that a Fulani man is a global citizen and therefore does not need a visa to come to Nigeria and that the forests belong to herdsmen.
“Governor Ortom wonders if his friend and colleague in Bauchi State knows a thing or two about the horrendous activities of herders in parts of the country to warrant the emotional defense and justification that he has repeatedly put forward in their favor.”
About Mohammed’s comment that there are Benue people freely doing business in Bauchi and elsewhere, Ortom stated that Benue indigenes in Bauchi have been law-abiding and do not carry arms to attack their hosts.
“He stresses the need for leaders to be cautious and retrace their steps which are capable of leading the country to anarchy.”
