Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue state has called on the Federal Government to take proactive steps as a matter of urgency to nip in the bud, activities of the Islamic state for West African Province (ISWAP) as warned by Governor Zulum. Ortom made the call while receiving a delegation of the Victim Support Fund (VSF), led by, Toyosi Akerele-Ogunsiji who paid him a courtesy visit at the Government House Makurdi, the state capital.
The governor urged the federal government not to treat the threat with kids gloves the warning issued by his Borno counterpart, governor Babagana Zulum, activities of ISWAP.
Zulum last week while addressing the president warned that increasing activities of ISWAP are allowed unchecked is capable of throwing the whole country into chaos, saying ISWAP would become more deadly than the erstwhile Boko Haram.
Buttressing Zulum’s stance, Governor Samuel Ortom said, “I want to lend my voice to what my colleague in Borno state, Prof Babagana Zulum, has cried out against the activities of ISWAP in that part of the country.
“The federal government should not take this alarm from the threats of ISWAP lightly and take proactive steps to send away the terrorists away from Nigeria so that we can live in peace.
He said, “We cannot continue this way. Nigeria deserves more peace than what we have now.”
Ortom recalled immediately when he assumed office in the year 2015, he alerted Nigerian on the activities of armed herders if allow festering for long unchecked.
In her remarks, Ogunsiji said VSF was in Benue state for a fact-finding mission on critical areas and organizations to arrest the predicament of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the state.