Benue killings: Group sends critical message to IGP concerning Ortom’s safety

macfranc007 February 10, 2018 Nigeria News today & Breaking news ▷ Read Nigerian newspapers 24/7 Buchi Obichie

- The Sanctity Transparency Peace Initiative has passed a message to the inspector general of police, concerning the safety of the Benue state governor

- The group told IGP Idris to make sure that nothing bad happens to the governor, as it faulted the force PRO for referring to Governor Ortom as a drowning man

- It further demanded an apology from the force, over the comment; as well as a public pronouncement guaranteeing the governor’s safety

The inspector general of police, Ibrahim Idris, has been told by the Sanctity Transparency Peace Initiative, an Abuja-based civil society organization, that nothing negative must happen to Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue state, Punch reports.

The group made the comments in a communique issued after its emergency meeting in Abuja on Friday, February 9, which was signed by its national coordinator, Sunday Alakho .

NAIJ.com gathers that the group alleged that the complicity of the police had worsened the herdsmen crisis in the country, and urged Idris to come clean.

It lamented over the fact that the killings had continued unabated, while condemning what it described as the deteriorating security situation in Benue and other parts of the country.

Alakho further chided the police boss for initially describing the incident in Benue as a communal clash. According to him, the IGP’s statement was “callous and insensitive, and targeted at people crying out for justice.”

He further stated that the group was concerned about remarks credited to Idris, attributing the killings to the implementation of the anti-open grazing law.

The group wondered if the law was also responsible for the killings in states like Plateau and others where it is non-existent.

Alakho also called for an apology from the force public relations officer, Jimoh Moshood, who had described the Benue governor as a “drowning man.”

According to Alakho, that statement translated into meaning that the governor was in danger.

He called on the IGP to resign if he could not guarantee the safety of residents in the volatile region, and demanded a public pronouncement by the police guaranteeing the safety of Governor Ortom.

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Meanwhile, NAIJ.com previously reported that the Benue Arise Network (BAN), a political group, requested that President Muhammadu Buhari sacks IGP Idris, and the force public relations officer, Jimoh Moshood, for their failure to tackle the security situation in the state.

BAN bitterly kicked against Moshood's reference to Governor Samuel Ortom as "a drowning man."

The group also accused the police chief of planning to redeploy Benue indigenes occupying sensitive positions to other parts of the country as a way of punishing them.

Victims of Herdsmen killing buried in Benue State on NAIJ.com TV: