Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State has called on the Federal Government to suspend the 2023 census.
Daily Report Nigeria recalls that the National Population Census exercise is scheduled to hold in May 2023.
Ortom, made the appeal while playing host to the Middle Belt Forum led by its President, Dr Bitrus Pogu, at Government House in Makurdi on Thursday.
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He argued that many Benue people were in the IDP camps and would not be counted because as they need to be in their local communities to be eligible for the exercise.
Ortom stressed that government should only continue with exercise with the provision of adequate security for IDPs in Benue and other states to go back to their various homes to be counted.
“I want to say that the Federal Government should suspend the issue of census because it looks like the proposed census is coming with an agenda.
“So, until they are able to restore security and all our IDPs go back to their ancestral lands to give all of them opportunities to be counted in the homes of birth.
“Because I understand from the National Population Commission that those to be counted must be counted in their localities.
“In Benue State alone, we have lost over six thousand people. In the last few days alone, over 131 persons were killed and we are still counting because others are in the hospital.”
However, Ortom said his people will continue to be law-abiding despite the renewed and incessant unprovoked attacks and several losses of lives.
“Our people believe in Nigeria and have worked for the unity of the country,” Ortom added.
On his part, the President of Middle Belt Forum, Dr Bitrus Pogu, urged the federal government to suspend the 2023 census, alleging it “was coming with a hidden agenda.”
Pogu frowned at the level at which herdsmen have continued to kill people in the Middle Belt without being arrested.
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He said what had made the activities of the herdsmen in the communities within the Middle Belt more frightening was that after killing and displacing the villagers, “the Fulani came and renamed those villages.”
“We will not cede our land to anyone. No portion of our land will be ceded to anyone. It will not be allowed. That should not be allowed to happen. Our land is our heritage,” he said.
