Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom has described the reintroduced Water Resources bill before the National Assembly as an evil plan to take over some portion of Benue land.
Ortom said Benue would not only resist it but will mobilise other states to ensure it does not see the light of the day.
The Next Edition recalls that the water bill, which generated much controversies when it was first introduced in the National Assembly and later withdrawn, was reintroduced in the House of Representatives by the Chairman Committee on Water Resources, Sada Soli.
Governor Ortom,who spoke in Makurdi while flagging off the distribution of improved seeds and seedlings to farmers in the 23 Local Government Areas, LGAs, of the state, said the water bill was another cattle colony in disguise and would not be accepted by Benue state.
Ortom said, “It does not matter the intimidation but we will never shy away from speaking out loud and clear that the government of President Muhammadu Buhari has unjustly patronized us by bringing terrorists Fulani herdsmen from across the World; Senegal, Niger, Mali, Mauritania, Libya, to terrorise us, take over our land and occupy our land. But they are dreamers.
“I want to send this message to the terrorists Fulanis that Benue people will prepare and go after them and by the grace of God, we will defeat them like our forefathers did. We will not allow them to take over our land.
“From open grazing to cattle colony, to RUGA to water bill, we have seen them and there will be no water bill Benue. We are not going to accept that. Benue state will resist Water Resources Bill. The evil that is being planned by these Fulani men and their elites who are in the National Assembly and other government positions to coerce us to accepting the evil bill, we will resist it.
“It is an evil plan to take over the banks of our water ways. It is dead on arrival. The federal government should manage Federal Capital Territory, FCT. They have no business in Benue land.
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He urged Benue indigenes and other states to rise up and reject the bill because it is targeted at taking over their ancestral heritage.
Governor Ortom who commended the Bureau for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs for initiating and sustaining the intervention advised the people to key into it to boost their crops production and add value to their livelihoods.
Earlier, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Barr. Ken Achabo thanked the government for the attention given to the African secret and for the improved seedlings saying it will boost the farm yields of farmers in the state.
He also commended Governor Ortom for his relentless efforts to ensure that Benue people were not chased away from their farm lands by armed herders stressing that the agricultural policies of the government would enhance food production in the state.
The improved seeds flagged-off for distribution include, 6,900 bags of rice, 833 bags of maize, 1,000 tins of watermelon seeds, 333 bags of sorghum and 11,000 bundles of cassava stems.
