The governor also said in one occasion, he had to run for close to two kilometres to escape after about 15 herdsmen attacked him on his farm at Tyo-Mu community, near Makurdi, the state capital. Ortom was one of the governors to push for the anti-open grazing law in his state over deadly clashes between the nomads and farmers, a move that was heavily criticised by the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria and Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, which are the umbrella bodies for nomadic herders in the country. He once told Fulani killer herders to go to Bauchi State saying there was no room for them in his state.