The Benue state governor Samuel Ortom has described the setting up of the presidential committee on farmers-herders crisis as a step in the right direction.
Ortom spoke when he received members of the committee led by General Musa Ibrahim of the Nigerian Army Defence Headquarters, Abuja, at Benue Peoples House, Makurdi.
He said the committee was a better initiative than the earlier utterances by the minister of defence on the Benue killings which to a large extent injured the sensibilities of people of the state.
He also thanked the Nigerian Army for setting up operation whirl stroke in Benue state.
Ortom noted that since the operation came on board, relative peace and normalcy had returned to the state making it possible for some IDPs to return to their ancestral homes.
He told the committee that the ranching law which was sacrosanct to Benue was not in any way targeted at anyone or ethnic group but a way of improving the well being of farmers and nomads who may not necessarily be of Fulani ethnic nationality.
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The governor restated the commitment of his administration to its ranching law and expressed hope that the committee would do justice to its findings.
Chairman of the presidential committee on farmers-herders crisis, General Umar Ibrahim said they were in Benue on the directive of the Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan Ali, to reassess the situation and report back.
He expressed the readiness of the committee to interact with farmers in the state with a view to taking positive decisions.
