Bala Mohammed, Governor of Bauchi State, and his Benue State counterpart, Samuel Ortom, have settled their differences over comments made on the appropriateness of herdsmen carrying AK-47 rifles amid the security situation in the country.
Governors Mohammed and Ortom embraced each other after a meeting at the private residence of Nyesom Wike, Governor of Rivers State, in Port-Harcourt, the state capital, on Tuesday.
Governor Mohammed had on 12 February said Fulani herders have no option but to carry AK-47 rifles for self-defence because they are being attacked and killed by cattle rustlers.
He also condemned South-West, South-East governors and Governor Ortom over the manner in which they are handling farmer-herder clashes.
Governor Ortom had on 22 February responded, branding his Bauchi counterpart a terrorist for supporting herdsmen from carrying AK-47 to defend themselves.
Following the altercation between the two governors, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), under whose platform they were elected into office, waded into their conflict.
After the closed-door meeting, the governors publicly embraced each other.
They insisted that their arguments over a comment made by the Bauchi governor on the bearing of arms by herders were for the good of the country, not to cause an ethnic crisis.
