Senator George Akume who yesterday led a delegation of All Progressives Congress members from Benue state on a visit to President Muhammadu Buhari, has stated that the Benue Government was behind the attacks by herdsmen in the state, which had consumed hundreds of lives.
According to Senator George Akume who was a former Governor of the state, the attack which has reduced many villages to rubble and has also received both national and international condemnation was spearheaded by Benue Government and they knew what was going on.
Punch reported that the Chairman, Senate Committee on Army whose visit was primarily to assure Buhari that the party would mobilise support in Benue State for his re-election in 2019, said;
“When you talk about herdsmen and farmers’ clash, it is a story going good-bye Have you heard of farmers/herders clashes in Benue again? No.
“We know those who were behind that; government was behind that. I am talking about the state government, through the livestock guards. They knew what was going on. So it is now a thing of the past.
“Everything that is going there is fraudulent in Benue State and the people are simply tired on this misinformation that they have been receiving. The narrative has changed; it is not question of herdsmen, we are not talking about religious and ethnic bigotry, we are talking about performance of government.”
On herdsmen attack, the President was quoted as saying;
“We know about herders. The ones we knew carried sticks, and sometimes cutlasses to cut foliage for their cattle. We now have people who carry AK 47s and pretend they are herdsmen.”
