Benue State governor, Samuel Ortom, Tuesday broke down in tears while presenting funeral oration at the mass burial of two Rev fathers and over 15 others in Mbalom, Gwer East LGA of the state.

They were among victims of the April 23 attack in the area.

Ortom, who fought back tears while giving his speech, vowed to continue to stand for his people despite the distractions.

Read his speech below:

I am here today with members of my Government to say to all of you that the State deeply shares in your sorrow. We remember not only one moment of tragedy but 19 lives of great purpose and promise.

This is the second mass burial we have the misfortune to organize in the last 5 months. On January 11, 2018, we had the mass funeral and burial of 73 of our patriots who were slaughtered in the 2018 New Year attacks by armed herdsmen in Guma and Logo Local Government Areas of Benue State.

We never expected another such day. But we were wrong. On 15th March, 2018, we held another mass funeral for 26 victims of herdsmen attack in Omusu, Okpokwu local government area of the state. From January1 to date, Benue is being attacked by herdsmen nearly every day not only in Guma and Logo but also in Ukum, Agatu, Okpokwu, Kwande, Gwer west, Gwer East and even Makurdi LGAs. At least 18 of our 23 LGAs have been attacked.

In the early hours of April 25, Rev. Father Joseph Gor, Rev. Father Felix Tyolaha and 17 other worshipers were again brutally killed by armed herdsmen at Quasi Parish Ukpor, Mbalom in Gwer East Local Government Area. They were in early morning prayers in the Church when they were gunned down.

The Reverend Fathers are not farmers. They were not in the farm. The church where they were holding the mass has no grass. It is therefore curious why Reverend Fathers who do not have a farm and parishioners who were worshiping God would be killed by herdsmen in the Church. By so doing, the armed herdsmen have moved the narrative of the current crisis from search of grass to other obvious motives.

On this very difficult day, in this difficult time for Benue and for Nigeria, it is important to ask our country: what kind of nation are we? What direction do we want to move to? Are we going forward or backward. Are we also in the 21st century? People are killing us.

We know our killers, but they are neither questioned nor arrested. In two separate Press Conferences which were widely reported in the media the Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore and Miyetti Allah Cattle Herders Association called on Fulani herders in all of West Africa and beyond to reject the state law on Ranching and to come into Benue to help them reclaim their land.

They swore that, “more blood will flow in Benue” if the Ranching Law is not rescinded. We are continually being killed not because we do not know our killers. It is because we know our killers that we are being killed. Our concern is not with herdsmen militia, Libyans, Boko Haram, ISIS or any mercenary. Our concern is those who hire them, who bring them and show them the killing fields. The arrest and prosecution of Miyette Allah Kautal Hore and Miyetti Allah Cattle Herders Association will be the beginning of elementary practice of justice for the 492 people so far killed in Benue by herdsmen.

Our Ranching Law which prohibits open grazing is an instrument of development. It launches Nigeria into the 21st century where open grazing is extinct in many other countries of the world. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, USDA, India has 303million cattle, Brazil has 226m, China has100m, USA has 93m, European Union 89m, Argentina 53m and Australia 27m. All these countries ranch their animals. Nigeria has only a little less than 20 million cattle which should be ranched. Ranching provides an avenue for both crop farmers and those involved in animal husbandry to increase production using modern technology.

https://www.benuepress.com/2018/05/read-gov-ortoms-full-speech-during-burial-mass-in-benue/

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