Garius Gololo, the co-ordinator of Benue State chapter of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, MACBAN, has revealed the genesis of the recent killings by suspected fulani herdsmen militia in Benue State.
He asserted that the seed of discord was sown when Samuel Ortom, the governor of Benue State, dumped the Fulanis after receiving massive supports from Fulani herdsmen during the election.
In an interview with the Sun Newspaper’s Murphy Ganagana, the Coordinator disclosed that Governor Ortom breached an agreement the state government had with Fulani herdsmen in the state shortly after he assumed office in May, 2015.
Some of the agreements included measures to restore peace to Agatu Local Government Area of the state, which was engulfed in crisis at the time.
In his words: “In 2015, when we met, we concluded that we the Fulani with a voting strength of 25, 000 voters cards in Benue State, we agreed that we would support him in the governorship election. I printed 6, 500 campaign T-shirts for him (Governor Ortom) for the election, and 3000 T-shirts for President Buhari.
“Then I made a pronouncement the Fulani living in Benue State are fully in support of Muhammadu Buhari and he, Dr. Samuel Ortom for 2015, because the APC is our party, and we had never been PDP.
“During the elections, I used six buses to convey my people for the exercise and the vehicle I was personally using was smashed by PDP boys. I was the only person using Ortom campaign posters at that time in the North Bank district inside the Lafia Garage in Makurdi, because even in Tivland, most people were not supporting him.
“After the elections, he called me and said Gololo, all I need now is peace in Benue State and how do we bring peace to Agatu? I told him if anything is to be done in Agatu, Nasarawa State governor must be involved; we would be involved, and the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association in Nasarawa will also be involved, so that we can unite and settle the problem once and for all.
“So, he called the governor of Nasarawa State and he came and stayed in Benue for almost one week. We went to Agatu twice and we came to a compromise and had an agreement. We signed an agreement with Agatu Chief and the leader of the Fulani in Agatu, Ardo Bodere; I was there and the governor was there. We signed an agreement that there will be peace, that neither the Agatu people nor the Fulani would attack each other. When the Agatu local council eventually had a chairman, he continued with the peace agreement and the Fulani continued grazing peacefully at Agatu until the state government enacted and implemented the anti-open grazing law.”
Lamenting the plight of Fulani herdsmen, he said “In Nigeria today, if a mosquito bites somebody, they will say its herdsmen; if a vehicle develops fault on the road, they say its herdsmen. We are praying to the Federal Government to investigate the issues properly. We herdsmen are not terrorists. We are citizens of this country with voting rights and voters’ cards. I see no reason why we should be denied our rights especially in Benue State, where we mobilized and massively voted for Governor Ortom.
