Samuel Ortom, Governor of Benue State, says the state has lost over N95 billion worth of goods and property, including his rice farm, to attacks by herdsmen attacks.

“If you go to the rural areas, you see schools, churches, hospitals, houses, farmlands, all that destroyed,” Ortom told the Daily Sun in an interview.

“In 2013, I lost my rice farm and farm implements. My ancestral home was razed; my entire village was razed; more than 50 people were killed in one day. So, this is a very big challenge.”

He said the state has suffered untold hardship from herdsmen since 2012 and can no longer tolerate open grazing of cattle.

The governor said the anti-grazing law recently enacted by the state is the solution to the incessant clashes between the farmers and herdsmen.

He said a cattle ranching is the best way to rear cows and anybody who cannot establish ranch should quit the state for other states that do not have anti-grazing law.

Ortom pointed out that the argument of having grazing routes is not realistic, as there is no single hectare of land in the state that can be used for such purpose.

“In the 1950s, when people argue that they had cattle routes and grazing areas, the question is:  “What was the total population of Nigeria? [It was] less than 40 million people.

“Today, in 2017, I can approximate it to be over 200 million, because the projection in 2012 was 170 million. So, by today, we should be over 200 million. But what is the land mass now?  What was it in 1950? It’s still 923, 000 square kilometres, even less with the ceding of Bakassi to the Cameroon.

“So, we have a lesser land mass than what used to obtain when we were less in population than now. So, it’s unfortunate that we have kept sealed lips and, honestly, I feel so sad; but I will continue to do what is right, as far as I know, as a person.”

Ortom expressed sadness that instead of the herdsmen to abide by the law, they have been threatening to invade the state.

He warned that despite the threat of violence by the herdsmen, anybody that violates the law must go jail because the constitution empowers the state to make such laws.

“I have said that the security agencies should arrest them for threatening me and my state that they would make the law not to function.

“I am waiting to see who will trespass. I am waiting to see who will not respect that law in Benue State. I have said it; I am not forcing anyone to live in Benue State. If you want to do open grazing, you can go to any other state that land is available.

“For me, here we are farmers and we cannot pay salaries as at when due today, so we want to have food on the table for everyone, and we have massively encouraged our people to go into agriculture, and they have done that.”

He urged Nigerians to support the state in this effort to end wanton killings and destruction of property by herdsmen.