Armed men believed to be Fulani herdsmen have burnt down the 250 hectares rice farm of the Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom.
The rice farm is located in Gbajimba, Guma Local Government Area of the state.
According to the farm manager, Kena Iordzua, the value of the produce destroyed is over N100 million.
Speaking on the burning of the farm, Iordzua said the herders came to the farm with a large number of cattle during the day and set the farm on fire at three different points.
He said due to the wild nature of the fire as a result of harmattan, it could not be put out.
The farm manager said security agents were mobilised to go after the herdsmen who shot sporadically in the air as they retreated towards Nasarawa State border.
Reacting to the attack on his principal’s farm, the Principal Special Assistant to the Governor on Special Duties, Hon. Abrahams Kwaghngu, described the act as barbaric and a threat to food security.
Kwaghngu stated that a law prohibiting open grazing of cattle was still in force in the state and should be obeyed by all, stressing that the Federal Government needs to act fast to stop the impunity by the herders.
Kwaghngu lamented that after displacing the people from their ancestral homes for over a year, the herdsmen would not allow the little that had been cultivated to be harvested.