The Idomas in Ireland have strongly faulted Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State for ceding a portion of their land to Fulani Herdsmen in Agatu LGA of the state.
The group, while faulting the governor for entering into such agreement without consulting Idoma stakeholders and leaders, warned him to rescind the decision.
They made this stand after their regional meeting in Aberdeen (Scotland) on Sunday through their coordinator, Mr. Samuel Udeh.
In a statement issued after the meeting, Udeh also asked the current Sole Administrator of Agatu, who reportedly signed the agreement to resign immediately for betraying Idoma people.
Udeh said, “We the Idomas in Ireland have rejected and condemned in totality the Governor Samuel Ortom’s decision to allocate a portion of Agatu land to Fulani herdsmen for grazing.
“We join our brothers and sisters, particularly the Agatus and the Idoma Students’ Union in condemning the governor’s move to sell Agatu land to herdsmen.
“It is worthy to note that we the Idoma people have no connection with Fulani people culturally, regionally, politically.
“We wonder what made the herdsmen to be indigenous people in Agatu local government. We wonder why Nassarawa state that has a direct link with Fulani did not apportion their land to the herders for grazing. We also wonder why governor Ortom could take such decisions without consulting our royal father, His Royal Highness, Och’Idoma, Agabaidu Elias Ikoyi Obekpa or our political leader Senator David Mark before selling our land to these people who have killed our citizens for years.
“Our position is the same with our people, particularly the Agatu indigenous people back home. Our land cannot be used for political settlement, hence we call on the governor and his party to reverse this decision immediately to avoid anything that will escalate the peace that is gradually returning to Agatu. We don’t want to believe that the governor hates Idoma nation.
“We also call on Mike Inalegwu to immediately resign his position as the Agatu Sole Administrator since he can not protect the interest of our people. We expect Inalegwu who prefers to retain his seat than securing Agatu land to vacate his seat immediately,” the groups said
Speaking further, Udeh noted that Agatu local government deserved more attention and compensation like the North-East and not causing more harm to them.
He opined that, “What Agatu people need in this difficult time is not to allocate their land to herdsmen but to provide them with materials and financial assistance to reduce the pain and hardship inflicted on them by these herdsmen.
“The people of Agatu need the government to create jobs, they want the government to seek ways to reward the local community like the north east, instead of using their land for settlement,” Udeh added.
Just few days ago, Ortom asked the people of Agatu to give peace a chance and cohabit with indigenous Fulani herdsmen, as was the case in the past.
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