Fighting Fulani Terrorism in Middle Belt: Ortom and Anagbe deserve Medals
By Tyodoo Livinus
It has been a long and tortuous battle against the Fulani invasion of communities in the Middle Belt region of Nigeria. The pastoralists, who are great-grandchildren of Shehu Usman dan Fodio – a Fulani Islamic religious leader who sought to conquer Nigeria but was halted in the North Central region, have been attempting to capture the predominantly Christian and farming people of Benue State and other parts of the region for several years.
Fulani terrorists have killed thousands and displaced millions in Benue and neighbouring states in North Central Nigeria. There has been a conspiracy of silence within the government. The current government of Benue State has been silent in the face of the atrocities committed by Fulani herders, unlike during Governor Samuel Ortom’s time, when the then-governor courageously called the invaders by their names and ensured that many of those found guilty were sent to jail.
Today, many people are afraid to speak for Benue State because some are reading the body language of the current government and have chosen to remain politically correct. Even some religious leaders and traditional rulers who supported the enactment of the law against open grazing are silent now that the law has been sidelined and Fulani have free access to Benue lands.
The insecurity situation in Nigeria reached an all-time high under the Muhammadu Buhari administration. President Buhari openly supported his kinsmen (Fulani) in their attempts to take over Benue and other Christian-dominated areas, fulfilling the dream of their great-grandfather Dan Fodio, who founded the Sokoto Caliphate.
Fortunately for the people of Benue State, their governor at the time, Samuel Ortom, stood firmly against the conquest agenda of the Fulani. Governor Ortom enacted a law to ban open grazing of livestock, known as the Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law in 2017, and tirelessly defended his people. The law was widely supported by the people of Benue, who indeed demanded such legislation. Religious leaders such as Bishop Wilfred Anagbe of the Catholic Diocese of Makurdi, Bishop Williams Avenya of Gboko, and Bishop Michael Apochi of Otukpo, along with bishops and pastors of Pentecostal churches, NKST pastors, and civil society groups—particularly the Movement Against Fulani Occupation (MAFO)—staunchly supported the law. Another strong advocate for the law was the Christian Association of Nigeria, Benue State, led by Reverend Akpen Leva. Traditional rulers in the state also supported the legislation.
Governor Ortom did not stop at enacting a law to prevent open grazing; he took the campaign against the invasion and occupation agenda of Fulani terrorists to an international audience.
In July 2022, Governor Ortom visited the State Department of the United States in Washington, D.C, where he made a compelling presentation. He called on the international community to support efforts to end the attacks on Christians in Nigeria.
Governor Ortom was also at the headquarters of International Christian Concern (ICC) in Washington, D.C, where he was received by the organization’s President, Jeff King, and the Communications Director, Mike Pritchard. Governor Ortom stated that the destruction of churches, schools, and hospitals by terrorists, along with the crippling of commercial activities, which left millions displaced, amounted to a declaration of war on Christians in the country.
He urged the international community to pressure the complacent and apparently complicit government of Nigeria to fulfill its constitutional responsibility of protecting vulnerable citizens before Christians are wiped out.
In the same month of July 2022, Governor Ortom was in London, where he addressed Nigerians in the diaspora and friends of Nigeria at the Freedom of Religion and Belief (FoRB) International Ministerial Fringe Events on Nigeria, organized by the Para-Mallam Peace Foundation and the International Peace-Building and Social Justice. There, he decried the activities of terrorists in Nigeria, stating that the country was under siege and that bombing churches and killing clergy and worshippers was intended to instill fear and restrict religious freedom.
Ortom explained that it was in an effort to solve the intractable security problems that his state enacted the Benue State Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law in 2017.
While appealing for the intervention of the international community, Governor Ortom urged the federal government to establish the North Central Development Commission to rehabilitate and rebuild the devastated parts of the region. His call, along with those of other patriotic Nigerians from the North Central part of the country, was recently heard, and the Commission has now been established.
Bishop Wilfred Anagbe has also done commendable work championing the fight against terrorism in Benue State by Fulani expansionists and calling for the intervention of the international community.
Bishop Anagbe recently made an in-depth presentation when he met with the United States House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa during a congressional hearing. The House Committee gave President Donald Trump the green light to impose stringent sanctions on Nigeria in response to the widespread killing of Christians in the country. U.S. lawmakers condemned the Nigerian government for failing to protect Christian communities from escalating violence.
The United States House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa also recommended reinstating Nigeria to the Country of Particular Concern (CPC) list.
Let it be known that posterity will be fair to those who braved the odds to uphold our national sovereignty and who spoke and acted in defense of the citizens of this great country. Men like former Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom and Bishop Wilfred Anagbe have already secured their places in the annals of Nigeria for their bold, firm, and courageous stands in ensuring that the country works to protect the interests of all citizens, irrespective of their religious and ethnic backgrounds.
*Tyodoo, a concerned citizen, writes from Makurdi.
