Plateau State Governor, Simon Lalong has apologised to the government and people of Benue State over his statement claiming to have warned his Benue counterpart, Samuel Ortom against the enactment and implementation of the anti-open grazing bill in the state.

Addressing a news conference in Abuja, Mr Lalong said his statement was misconceived and that he is highly interested in the peaceful coexistence of the middle belt.

“I humbly apologise for my comment because I have seen that it was really misconceived and misinterpreted. That generated a lot of social media reaction here and there, so I apologise for that.

“Arguing either for or against doesn’t help the matter because it involves loss of lives. I have great respect for this and also the unity of the middle belt. We are all brothers and sisters. Benue was created out of Plateau, Nasarawa was created out of Plateau,” he said.

He, therefore, condemned the violence between herdsmen and farmers in Benue State which has claimed lives of many.