23rd March, 2021
By Kazeem Ugbodaga
Three suspects who allegedly attacked Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State have been arrested.
The suspects are not Fulani but three Jukun fishermen.
They were arrested by the police in connection with the attack on the governor.
Ortom was attacked in his farm along Tyo Mu, Makurdi by 15 gunmen.
The governor said he ran one and half kilometres to escape from being killed by the gunmen as his security officers engaged them in gun-battle.
But Security Adviser to Ortom, Col. Paul Hemba, confirmed the arrest of three of the suspects while conducting newsmen round the scene of the attack on Tuesday.
The Nation quoted Hemba as saying the police team found the fishermen close to the scene of the attack and were being investigated.
On Saturday, Ortom narrated how he was saved from the bandits.
“I appreciate the security men attached to me. They were able to repel them and they could not have access to me.
“And I thank God for my fitness to have run for more than one and a half kilometres without stopping. It means that God has given me strength and I am grateful to God.
“I don’t have problems with any Fulani man or Fulani race. But I have a problem with Fulani bandits who have vowed to take over Nigeria as their ancestral home. And I say no. Not when I am here and when I am governor leading my state.”
Ortom said if he as a governor could not go to farm with the entire security around him, he wondered who else could go to farm, saying one could imagine the pains that the people of Benue State were facing.