President Muhammadu Buhari has expressed surprise that Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris did not stay in Benue state as he instructed him to do.
Buhari had ordered Idris to relocate to the state to coordinate investigations in the wake of herdsmen killings that left 73 persons dead in Guma and Logo LGAs of the state on New Year’s Day.
However, the police boss reportedly spent a day in the state and left.
Speaking during his official visit to the state on Monday, the president said, “I did not know that IG did not stay in the state .”
Buhari declared as false insinuations that he abandoned the people of the state in the wake of the attacks.
He also appealed for restraint so that the relationship between herdsmen and farmers will continue peacefully.
He said, “I have friends here in the state. There is no way I can deliberately overlook what is happening here and other parts of the country.
“Let me appeal to our people in the state to apply more restraint , the relationship between farmers and herders will continue, it behoves on us to keep encouraging ourselves to continue to live together peacefully.”
Meanwhile, Governor Samuel Ortom said many more lives had been lost in the state after the New Year’s Day incident.
Ortom said, “65 more people have been killed after the mass burial of 73 persons, also 26 more were killed in Okpokwu , with over 5,000 displaced in Mbatoho community.”