Governor Hyacinth Alia of Benue State has accused some politicians, including sitting members of the National Assembly, of being behind the deadly attacks that have continued to destabilise the state. Alia made the claims during an appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme on Friday.
He said the killings in Benue were no longer isolated clashes between farmers and herders but part of a deliberate and coordinated campaign being fueled by political actors based in Abuja.
“It is very, very unsettling because top politicians who are very functional and are in the National Assembly and are in Abuja are the architects and arrowheads of not just instigating, but harbouring and keeping these people and feeding them in the bushes, and taking care of all their needs and buying all the other gadgets for them,” he said.
He described the situation as unacceptable, noting that while some politicians were only interested in preserving their positions, he remained committed to protecting ordinary citizens.
“If they do not love the lives of the people and they’re only fighting for their own position, I think I am serving the interest of the common masses and it is a concern to me, and it is my right to protect it,” he added.
Alia explained that his administration had set up a judicial panel to investigate the roots of the attacks. The panel has already submitted an interim report, and the full report is expected in the coming days.
“We set up a judicial panel to sort out for us why we kept having attacks from within and from without, and we have received an interim report. Between Tuesday and Wednesday next week, I am going to get a full report from the panel,” he said.
“So once we receive this report that is coming, we are going to take it up and take it up very seriously. There are quite a lot of big names that are mentioned here, so this is where we are,” Alia stated.
“The way these attacks come and the intel we receive, it is a directed, calibrated plan and then executed. Daily, we are receiving that intel. Of late, each of the intel we receive, 60 to 65 per cent of it is quite accurate,” he said.
He dismissed the idea that the violence is simply a result of ethnic tensions between farmers and herders. “It is beyond just conflict, it is beyond just an ethnic fight between herders and farmers in our state, it is directed, it is planned and then it is executed, it is some terrorism,” he said.
