The President said this while
faulting the notion in some quarters that he had abandoned the people of Benue
State.
Buhari said he had the people of
the state at heart and will not abandon them.
The president made this remark on
Tuesday during a condolence visit to the state.
According to him, “The problem in
Benue stated worsening because the IGP refused to follow my instruction.
“It is wrong to think I have
abandoned the people of Benue. I still have at heart.
“I thank the governor and the
people of the state for receiving me.
“We have deployed security
agencies to make sure the clashes between farmers and end as soon as possible.”
President Muhammadu Buhari says
he is not aware that Ibrahim Idris, inspector-general of police, did not heed
his instruction in Benue state.
Shortly after 73 persons were
killed in January following clashes between farmers and herdsmen, Buhari asked
Idris to relocate to Benue.
But when he visited the state on
Monday, the president was told that Idris did not spend up to 24 hours in the
state.
In surprise, Buhari said: “I’m
not aware that the I-G did not spend 24 hours in the state as directed by me, I
am getting to know in this meeting.”
He also said the meeting was not
the best place to expose the inefficiency of his appointees and appealed to the
Benue people to exercise restraint and live in peace with their neighbours.
Buhari told the meeting attended
by farmers, herdsmen and government officials including senators and members of
the house of representatives, that he is doing his best to tackle insecurity in
the land.
He denied insinuations that he
overlooked the killings that happened in Benue, saying he is genuinely worried
over them.
Buhari urged the people to show
restraint and allow the security agencies to handle the untenable situation.
“The governor and I, and others
here know that we will leave one day, but the relationship between farmers and
herders will continue,” he said.
“I urge you to keep in touch with
them and advise them to live peacefully. Nigeria has over 250 ethnic groups
with different cultures and nobody can question God for putting us together.”
Recalling his civil war era
memories with military officers from Benue, he noted that his nostalgic
experience with such persons would never allow him to do harm to the state.
On his part, Samuel Ortom, the
governor, appealed to the president to upgrade the ongoing military exercise in
the state tagged “Ayem A kpatema” to an operation to effectively curb herdsmen
attacks.
”If the exercise is upgraded to
an operation, it will assist greatly in ending the incessant attacks and
senseless killings by herdsmen,” he said
He urged Benue people to exercise
restraints and learn to live in peace with other people.
He said that many states in the
federation were now involved in massive cultivation of rice.
He reiterated his call for the
arrest of the leadership of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore for “being responsible
for the killings”.
Ortom still maintained that
ranching was the best option for cattle breeding in the country.
He also called on the federal
government to take over the management of the Benue University Teaching
Hospital, College of Education Katsina-Ala and Benue Polytechnic Ugbokolo.
Representative of Miyetti Allah
Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), Benue Chapter, Shettima
Mohammed, denied responsibility for the Benue attacks.
He said the association was peace
loving and the exact opposite of its public presentation by government officials.
Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
I will help you to sack the IGP
ReplyDeleteSo what's the next step to take if the IGP disobeyed the President & Commander in Chief.
ReplyDeleteMr. President, what ate you waiting for? Many lives have been lost as a result of this disobedience. The IGP should not only be sacked but prosecuted for aiding & abetting the killings
Mr Buhari you're a shame for telling the nation this nonsense story. You and your inspector general of police knows what you're doing.
ReplyDelete