The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) says it has waded into the disagreement between Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom and Bauchi State Governor Bala Mohammed on the issue of herdsmen who carry AK-47.
The party in a series of tweet on Monday however called for calm between both parties.
It said, “@OfficialPDPNig assures that it has waded into the rift between Bauchi State Governor, Senator Bala Mohammed, and his Benue State counterpart, Governor Samuel Ortom.
“@OfficialPDPNig calls for calm as the internal reconciliation mechanism introduced by the hierarchy of the party between the two governors subsists.
The Party however urged the Federal Government to take urgent steps to address the escalated security challenges in our country.
Governor Ortom had earlier on Monday accused his Bauchi State counterpart, Mohammed, of being a terrorist based on his utterances supporting herdsmen from carrying AK-47 to defend themselves.
Ortom also accused Mohammed of being a part of those threatening his life stressing that the Bauchi governor should be held responsible if anything happens to him.
The Benue Governor, therefore, called on Governor Mohammed to render an unreserved apology and learn from the provisions of the constitution that, land both territorial, forest, and aquatic, are vested on the governor of a state who holds them in trust, instead of indulging in inciting Fulani herdsmen against innocent Nigerians.
Governor Mohammed had earlier said herders can carry AK-47 to defend themselves, although he later defended his comment about armed herders, explaining that he used AK-47 as a figure of speech for protection.
“It is a figure of speech to show you the despondence, the desperation and frustration, and the agony that this particular person is exposed to by his own people, by his own tribe and by other tribes who have all seen him as a criminal and therefore, he has the inalienable right to protect himself.
