Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, narrowly escaped death on Saturday as gunmen suspected to be armed bandits ambushed and opened fire on his convoy. But his security details responded swiftly to the situation, repelled the bandits, and rushed their principal to safety.
The ugly incident occurred at Tyo Mu, along the Makurdi/Gboko road on his way to the capital after visiting his farm.
The governor recalled the near-death experience on Saturday, fingering “Fulani Militias” as the masterminds.”
“You know today is Saturday,” he said, “and is normal as a farmer, I usually go to my farm. So, I went to my farm along Gboko road, and on our way back, we started hearing some gunshots and we discovered people who were dressed in black, and from experience, we now discovered that these are Fulani militias. And I do not want to take things for granted because few days ago, the media were awash with statement from MACBAN who met in Yola, the same place they met in 2016, where they decided that they will take Nigeria and that every other person is a slave. That was when they started infiltrating the entire country.”
On his next line of action, Governor Ortom said: “My lawyer is going to make a petition against the leadership of MACBAN because they came out to target me; and behind the scene, they are planning to eliminate me on my own land. If I can’t go to the farm as governor with entire security around me, then, who else can go to farm? You can imagine the pains that we have here in Benue State.”
The governor praised his security details for their prompt response to the attack. “I appreciate the security personnel attached to me. They were able to repel them and they could not have access to me,” Ortom stated.
Ortom disclosed that troops of Operation Whirl Stroke, the police, and the DSS have been mobilised to comb the forest between Tyo-Mu and Abinse where they were camped and get the criminals arrested.
