RIVERS State governor Nyesom Wike says the federal government should be held responsible if his Benue State counterpart Samuel Ortom is assassinated.
He said any assassination of the governor could plunge the country into another civil war.
Wike stated this while reacting to an attempt on Ortom’s life and attack on his convoy by suspected herdsmen on Saturday.
Fifteen gunmen were said to have trailed Ortom to a riverbank in Tyo Mu along Makurdi/Gboko Road in Makurdi Local Government Area of the State, where he had gone to visit his farm.
Read Also: No amount of intimidation can force my administration to repeal ranching law -Ortom
“If you kill Ortom, then be prepared to bury Nigeria. If anything happens to Governor Ortom, the federal government will be held responsible and they should be prepared that there will be no more Nigeria,” he said.
In a statement signed by Kelvin Ebiri, special assistant to the governor on media, Wike recalled how the former general officer commanding (GOC) 6 division of the Nigerian Army in Port Harcourt Jamil Sarham and the All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftains had planned to assassinate him during the 2019 general election.
He described as disturbing, the growing trend where the lives of incumbent governors were brazenly threatened.
How I escaped gunmen’s attack – Ortom
Narrating his ordeal during a press briefing in Makurdi, Ortom said he ran 1.5 kilometers to escape unhurt.
He said he was inspecting his farm on Saturday when armed herders, dressed in black, opened fire on him and his security aides.
He stated that it took the swift response of his security aides to repel the attack, while he ran a long distance to escape unhurt.
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE: INVESTIGATION: How Shasha Market traders lost millions in Oyo ethnic clash
“If not for my security men and God, I would have been dead by now. I ran over 1.5 kilometers to escape while my security men repelled the herdsmen,” he said.
The governor claimed that the attack came few days after the leadership of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore held a meeting in Yola and singled him out as a thorn in their flesh that must be eliminated.
He said he received intelligence to that effect.
Ortom said his life was in the hands of God and no ethnic militia had the power to take it without God’s permission.
He said as many times as they tried, they would continue to fail.
Ortom wants FG to legalise weapons for ‘responsible civilians’, calls for end to open grazing
He stated that the ranching law of the state would not be repealed for any reason, stressing that no intimidation could force his administration to reverse the decision of Benue people against open grazing.
The governor said he would send a petition to President Muhammadu Buhari and security chiefs against Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, adding that allowing the leadership of the group to walk freely with security personnel attached to them was not in the best interest of the country.
You can reach out to me on Twitter via: vincent_ufuoma