I ran 1.5km to survive herdsmen attack on me – Gov Ortom

….Calls on Buhari to call Miyetti Allah to order

By Ezurike Ugochukwu

Details are beginning to emerge on how Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom managed to escape unhurt in the hands of gunmen suspected to be herdsmen, who attacked him on his farm Saturday.

Speaking with journalists at the Benue Peoples House after the incident, the governor said he ran 1.5 kilometers to escape unhurt from the attack of the marauding gang.

Ortom said armed herders, dressed in black, opened fire on him and his security aides who stood their ground to repel the attackers, while he ran a long distance to escape unhurt.

According to the governor, the attack came few days after the leadership of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore held a meeting in Yola and singled him out as a thorn in their flesh and must be done away with.

Miyetti Allah

Stating that as many times as they try, they would continue to fail. His life he said was in the hands of God and no ethnic militia had the power to take it without the permission of the owner of the life.

The ranching law of the state he said will not be repealed for any reason, even as no intimidation could force his administration to reverse the decision of Benue people against open grazing and activities of killers.

Ortom said he would send a petition to President Muhammadu Buhari and security chiefs against Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, adding that allowing the leadership of the group to walk freely with security personnel attached to them was not in the best interest of the country.

Mr Terver Akase, Chief Press Secretary to the governor had in a chart with Nation Update earlier in the day confirmed the attack on the governor’s convoy at Tyo mu community, a distance of less than 20 kilometers from the Benue State capital.