Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, has lamented the openness of Nigeria’s borders to herdsmen from neighbouring countries.
Speaking on Monday during his visit to a victim of herdsmen attack, Wanhena Cheku, at the Federal Medical Centre, Apir, Makurdi, Mr Ortom called on the Federal Government to close its borders to foreign herdsmen.
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Mrs Cheku’s left hand was cut off in an attack on her farm at Mbagwem community in Guma Local Government Area of Benue.
Ortom said it was wrong for foreign herders to gain free entry into the country and perpetrate atrocities at will.
“It is wrong to allow herdsmen from Mali, Niger, Chad, etc, to find their way into Nigeria to commit atrocities and go back to their countries. Most countries in the world will not accept this,” he said.
The governor, who was accompanied to the hospital by his wife, Eunice, regretted the evil done to Cheku.
He assured that security operatives were on the trail of the herders who attacked the woman.
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“You can imagine the pains the attackers have put this woman into. There have been cases of missing persons in the state. If she had died in that jungle where she was attacked nobody will be talking about her now,” Ortom said.
On the possible closure of Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps in Benue, Ortom said that most IDPs had returned to farming because they would not continue to remain in the camps forever.
