Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom has linked the deadly attack on Abagena community in Makurdi Local Government Area of the state to “reckless comments of some highly-placed individuals.”
Newsmen earlier reported that gunmen suspected to be Fulani herdsmen invaded the community on Thursday night, and killed a family of six and three other persons with scores injured.
Reacting, Ortom in a statement issued and made available to our correspondent by his Special Adviser, Media & Publicity, Terver Akase, described the renewed attacks on the state as a declaration of war on the people of the state.
Governor Ortom said the latest attack in Abagena, a community with one of the largest numbers of internally displaced persons in Makurdi, reaffirms his earlier statements that the suspected terrorists are bent on taking over the people’s ancestral lands.
According to Ortom support from some highly placed individuals has emboldened the armed herders to unleash mayhem on the people of the state, believing that they have influential personalities backing them.