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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.

Israeli troops shot and killed a Palestinian protester during clashes in the occupied West Bank on Friday.

A group of Palestinians threw stones towards two Israeli soldiers and the troops then opened fire, reported a photographer with Reuters news agency. A group of Palestinians carried the man away.

“A citizen who was shot in the head with live ammunition died,” the Palestinian health ministry said, adding the incident happened in the village of Beit Dajan, near Nablus.

The Israeli military said it was looking into the report.

Atef Yussef Hanaysheh, 42, was killed in a clash between Israeli soldiers and Palestinians demonstrating against Israeli settlement activity, said Beit Dajan Mayor Abdelrahman Hanani.

“The soldiers fired when we approached a wildcat settlement near the village,” said Hanani.

Palestinians gather on Fridays across the West Bank to protest the expansion of Israeli settlements, which are deemed illegal under international law.

The Israeli military said “dozens of Palestinian rioters hurled rocks” at its troops who “responded with riot dispersal means and by firing into the air”.

“We are aware of reports regarding a Palestinian casualty. The cause of the injury is still unknown. The incident is being examined,” it said.

West Bank demonstrations often turn violent with Palestinian protesters hurling rocks and firebombs at Israeli forces who fire tear gas, rubber-coated bullets, and sometimes live ammunition to disperse them.

Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 war and the Palestinians want it to form the main part of their future state.

Nearly 500,000 Israeli settlers live in around more than 200 settlements and dozens of unauthorised outposts scattered across the Palestinian territories.

Palestinians want to establish a state in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip, territories Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war.

The Palestinians, who have limited self-rule in the West Bank, say Israel’s settlements deny them a viable state. Most countries view the settlements as illegal under international law.

Israel disputes this, citing “security” needs, as well as biblical and historical ties to the land. Israeli-Palestinian peace talks collapsed in 2014.