I’ve no personal scores with Suswam — Ortom

Why is it apparently difficult to track down the notorious criminal you gave amnesty to but who later reneged and is still terrorizing communities in the state?

He is being shielded by his immediate community but I have taken steps. We are going to have a security meeting by next week and drastic action would be taken against those that are shielding him. It is the last option but we have no choice because we cannot allow Gana to continue to cause this kind of havoc and destruction.

You visited Zaki Biam a day after the attack at the yam market; what did you see?

Massive destruction. There was havoc and killings; destruction of farm produce, houses of innocent people; bringing fear into the people who were virtually afraid. Zaki Biam is one of the biggest commercial towns of this state because of the farm produce there but the whole town has been deserted. I was very sad. That is why the Inspector General of Police and the Chief of Army Staff have augmented the personnel that we have here with additional equipment. I believe that this kind of thing will never happen again.

There have been conflicting accounts of the casualty; what figure do you have?

I was there and physically inspected the corpses having gone to all the hospitals. I was there with the commissioner of police, director SSS, the sole administrator of the local government and the DPO. The total number of death that was recorded and taken to mortuary when I visited was 17 while those receiving treatment in hospital was eleven.

Could it be that the number later increased after your visit because the Ukum Local Government traditional council gave me a figure of 22 while eye witnesses put it even higher?

Well, I don’t know about that. Maybe there were more deaths when we left because I visited a day after the attack and the report is yet to reach me but the ones I took note on record when I visited was 17.

Your counterpart, the Governor of Rivers State is calling for a state of emergency in Benue as a result of recent attacks; what is your reaction?

It is laughable because this is not the first time killings are taking place. Most importantly there are more killings in Rivers State; there is more criminality in Rivers State. The governor himself does not respect the rule of law. He led a team that stopped the police, the DSS from doing their legitimate and constitutional duty and he calls himself a lawyer. I think that lawyers should live by example; they should respect the rule of law. I also understand that his wife is a judge. So how can this kind of person come to call for state of emergency because there are killings in Benue?

I am really disappointed in my colleague but I pray that this kind of thing does not happen to him. Today he is laughing at us because he is politicizing the thing. Because I am APC and they never thought that I could cross from PDP and win election; they stood against me when I was in PDP. Since I won they are still dreaming that it is not me winning election and taking over power from the government that was in place. So it is all about politics.

There is one man called Iorhemba who was speaker of Benue State House of Assembly. He comes from my own local government area and I virtually helped to make him become a member of the state assembly and supported him to emerge as speaker. I heard him saying that this government has failed. While he was speaker he was impeached. Out of 30 members of the House of Assembly which included him, 29 voted against him.

When I was minister and he was here as speaker with the former government, in one day because of this crisis 50 of my kinsmen were killed and my ancestral home destroyed. The whole of my local government was deserted; nobody cared to provide relief materials until I came home to gather the people to do that. So these are the kind of people.

Recently, Wike attempted to copy my amnesty programme but did he disarm anybody? So Wike has no moral ground to call for state of emergency on anything in Benue. We are on top of the situation here; so before he calls for state of emergency elsewhere, let him do so in Rivers first because the Bible asks why you see the peck in your brother’s eyes without noticing the log of wood in your own eye. You must first remove the log of wood in your eye so that you can see clearly the peck in your brother’s eyes.

Have there been any arrests with respect to the herders/farmers crises and the recent Zaki Biam attack?

That is the question I keep asking myself. If these attacks and all that are not coordinated why should we allow impunity? I have given directive to security people that they should arrest any herdsman carrying arms and any farmer carrying arms. Nobody should carry arms; we must respect the rule of law and impunity should not find its place in my government. So it is the same question I have been asking and the police are yet to answer.

I don’t just want verbal answer I want practical things; I want to see the arrest because these people carry arms and kill. So where are the people? Whether they are farmers if they kill Fulani men they should be arrested and if Fulani men kill farmers they should be arrested because they are not above the law.

Do you suspect conspiracy?

I suspect lack of capacity and equipment. This is one area that I have been advocating and Mr President was very proactive when he ordered for the recruitment of 10,000 policemen. I want to see this continue every year for the next seven years. Police should be well funded because it is their responsibility to maintain law and order; the capacity is lacking. If security men are adequate and able to take care of this it will reduce.

How true are media reports that you recently reconciled with your predecessor, Gabriel Suswam?

Well, at the instance of traditional rulers, we came and they said I should not push further. I stopped at that; we have reconciled on personal issues, not official matters. I have no personal issues with him.

Does the reconciliation absolve him of all the allegations you have made against him?

Those are official matters but like I told them, I have no personal issues with him and he shouldn’t have any with me. We shouldn’t personalize matters that are official.