Nigerian Governor Survives Assassination Attempt By Suspected Fulani Herders

A governor of Benue State in the North Central part of Nigeria, Samuel Ortom, was on Saturday nearly killed when men Suspected to be Fulani Herders opened fire on his convoy.

A source from the state who spoke to our reporter said the governor was returning to the state capital Makurdi from Gboko when his convoy came under attack from the suspected assassins.
“They are Fulani herdsmen because some of the officials captured them even in that tensed atmosphere,” replied the source.

He noted that the superior firepower of the governor’s security detail repelled them from killing the state chief executive.
The governor, it will be recalled, is a number one opponent of open grazing in Nigeria, a thought of a line that has severally pitched him against the Herders. He has gone forth to sign anti-open grazing law in the state, thus making open grazing a criminal act.

This, some Fulani, said was against free movement enshrined in the Country’s constitution and thus have severally threatened the governor and the state.

The state government toed this line following frequent clashes between farmers whose crops are destroyed through open grazing and the herdsmen.

Recall that since President Muhammadu Buhari assumed office as Nigerian leader, he himself a Filani and cattle rearer, the activities of Fulani Herders have assumed threatening dimensions with several killings linked to them in Nigeria.

With continues silence from the nation’s seat of power over the activities of the Herders, Nigerians, particularly those from the southern part, have accused the president and the northerners of a deliberate act of destroying the south which has made the administration of Buhari quite unpopular in that region.