Benue Battles Terrorism: Governor Alia Sounds the Alarm

The recent attacks that have taken multiple lives go beyond a conflict between farmers and herders, according to Benue State Governor Hyacinth Alia, who has announced that the state is under siege from terrorists and andits.

The North-Central state has seen a spike in attacks in recent weeks, with violent attacks in multiple local government regions that have resulted in multiple fatalities.

Speaking as a guest on Channels Television's Politics Today on Friday, Governor Alia claimed that terrorists had carefully planned and carried out the attacks.

When asked if he believes the state is being attacked by terrorists, Alia said on the show, "We are under siege."

The way these attacks occur and the intelligence we get, he continued, "is a planned, calibrated strategy that is then carried out." We are getting those intelligence reports every day. Nowadays, 60 to 65 percent of the information we get is correct.

When you realize what is happening, you realize that it is more than just a quarrel or an ethnic battle between farmers and herders in our state; it is planned, directed, and carried out; it is some form of terrorism.

According to the governor, the attacks now involved specialized killers—terrorists who use a kind of guerilla warfare—and he no longer saw them as a conflict between farmers and herders.

“For some reason, none of them is ever caught, they come in in the thick of the night, hit, run and nobody sees a trace. So, it is some terrorism that is eating us up,” he remarked.

 

The governor also accused some serving politicians in the National Assembly of sponsoring the attacks in Benue, saying that it was unacceptable.

Although he did not name the politicians, the governor said that an interim report of a judicial panel he set up, revealed many big names and vowed to take up the matter as soon as he receives the full report next week.  

"We established a judicial panel to investigate why we continued to experience attacks from both inside and outside, and we have obtained an interim report," he stated. I will receive a comprehensive report from the panel between Tuesday and Wednesday of next week.

It is extremely disturbing because certain highly effective politicians who are in the National Assembly and in Abuja are the ones who not only instigated but also harbored and kept these individuals, keeping them in the bushes, paying all of their bills, and purchasing all of their devices.

"This is totally unacceptable. I believe I am acting in the best interests of the general public and have the right to defend them if they dislike the lives of the people and are battling for their own political position.

"Therefore, we are going to take this report seriously once we receive it next week."