Here Are The Major Round-Up Of News From Benue State Today, Wednesday, May 8th 2019.

Benue News: Ortom’s PDP Files Defence At Tribunal

The Benue State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has filed a defence in respect of its victory in the just concluded 2019 governorship election in the state at the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Makurdi.

The governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Emmanuel Jime, and the party had filed a petition against the victory of the PDP candidate, Samuel Ortom, in the just-concluded election.

Naija News also learnt that the APC governorship candidate’s petition has the Independent National Electoral Commission, Ortom and the PDP as the first, second and third defendants respectively.

Farmers/Herders Clash: What Ortom Advised FG, 9th NASS To Do

In order to address the crisis of farmers/herders clash in Benue State, Governor Samuel Ortom has urged the Federal government to see cattle rearing as a Private Enterprise.

Speaking at a memorial lecture of the first Prof. Miriam Ikejiani-Clark memorial lecture at the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN), Enugu State,
In his lecture titled: “The State and Management of Farmers/Herdsmen Conflict in Nigeria: Lessons from the Benue Valley”, Ortom encouraged the ninth National Assembly to pass the National Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Bills, stressing that “any recommendations about open cattle routes of the 1950s will not work because on such routes are now built hospitals, airport, university campuses, etc”.

The governor also advised the government to see ranching as an alternative to open grazing.

Benue News: FG Targets 23,000 Farmers For Agric Inputs

The Federal Government under its National Emergency Agricultural Intervention Fund has targeted at least 23,000 farmers in Benue State who were either affected by the 2018 flood or by the farmers/herders conflicts to benefit from agricultural inputs.

A Deputy Director of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Dr. Martins Ejike who led the agency’s team to Benue on behalf of its Director General, Mustapha Maihaja, said at a press conference on Monday in Makurdi that the fund was initiated as a palliative for affected farmers in the two emergency areas.