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The Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom has told the Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore that he is ready to meet them at the International Criminal Court of Justice at The Hague.
Ortom, who spoke through his Chief Press Secretary, Nath Ikyur said this while reacting to media threats credited to the group whose members have continued to wreak havoc on Benue communities by killing thousands and rendering many others homeless.
According to a statement credited to the Secretary-General of the Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, Alhaji Saleh Alhasssn, the group has already filed a suit against Governor Ortom at the ICC in The Hague for allegedly seizing over 25,000 cows belonging to his members and detaining over 4,000 herders.
Governor Ortom reiterated his readiness to meet them at court saying, “tell Miyetti Allah and all its leadership that I am ready to meet them in court, anywhere. He further explained that as the Governor of Benue State, he was implementing a law duly passed by the legislature and signed into law.
He insisted that the law was enacted in good faith and it remains “a win-win for the herders and farmers. Unfortunately, what we see is that the terrorists come with the sole intention to take over our ancestral lands and not to graze.”
The governor also maintained that the passage of the law was part of measures to end the incessant invasion by the armed herdsmen and halt farmers’-herders’ clashes in the state.
While stressing that the “implementation of the law banning open grazing of cattle in the state is irrevocable,” the governor advised Miyetti Allah and their collaborators to be ready for a long legal battle.
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In his words: “Let those who are threatening to take me to court understand that every law is meant to be obeyed. For the avoidance of doubts, the Benue people agreed for the law to be implemented. We are, therefore, enforcing it.
“Anybody willing to do business in the state must abide by the law. I have done what is right and legitimate to protect my people from further killings. That is what constitutional democracy demands,” the Governor stated.
He insisted that “instead of Miyetti Allah directing their members who wish to live and do business in Benue State to abide by the law, they have continued to sponsor acts of terror against Benue people, killing and destroying properties worth billions of naira. There are over two million Benue people living as refugees in the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps.”
The governor also dismissed claims that officials of the Benue State Livestock Guards arrested cattle from neighbouring states.
He said: “It is laughable to say that Benue State officials of the Livestock Guards go into Taraba or Nasarawa States to take away cattle. We know the boundaries between Benue and other states. As such, our officials do not go outside of the state boundaries to make any seizure of herds of cattle that violate our laws.”
