Governor Ortom says herdsmen plan to kill him
BY TAIWO FAROTIMI
Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State has once again raised alarm that there are plans to attack him. He disclosed this at an interactive session organised by the Catholic Diocese of Markudi. The governor said he had notified security agencies of the plot he claimed was being hatched by some herdsmen who are currently occupying his local government area.
According to him, the herdsmen were planning to waylay him on Makurdi-Lafia road. He said the plan was to kill all his security men, capture him and torture him to death. The alarm is the second since he decamped from the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC to the opposition People’s Democratic Party, PDP.
He said after he notified all security agencies of the first intelligence report, he decided to take preemptive measures, which include taking flight whenever he suspected that danger lucked on the highway. But the governor said his apprehension grew afresh for his safety after the federal government shut down the airport in Makurdi.
The issue of flight to Makurdi has been a bone of contention in recent times, perhaps because the local airport there is hardly in constant use. For instance, last July there was controversy over the denial of landing right for some southern political leaders at the Air Force Base in Makurdi. Then political undertones were read to the decision of the Air Force by people who assumed that they probably were acting on instructions from the government. Incidentally the Base is at the local airport, and it is used for the operation of the air force in the area.
But in a statement, NAF’s Director of Public Relations and Information (DOPRI), Air Vice Marshal Olatokunbo Adesanya said the denial of landing right had no political undertone. Rather, he said the chartered plane that was to carry the leaders from Abuja was not granted permission to land at the Base in Makurdi because due process was not followed by the affected airline operator.
It is also not clear if Mr. Ortom found out from the authorities the real reason why civil flight to and from Makurdi was suspended.
Last year Governor Ortom had received the Chief of Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar in his office. And during that visit the Air Force chief had told the governor that the Air War College, AWC would no longer be relocated from Makurdi as earlier planned. That college uses its base at the airport for drills.
