Benue State Governor, Hyacinth Alia, has sounded a distress call over the relentless wave of violence ravaging the state, declaring that what was once perceived as clashes between herders and farmers has now escalated into a full-blown terrorist siege.
Speaking on Politics Today, a Channels Television programme aired on Friday, the governor described the recent spate of attacks across several Local Government Areas in the state as a deliberate and coordinated assault by organized terror groups.
“We are under siege,” Alia declared when asked whether the state was experiencing terrorism. “The way these attacks come and the intel we receive, it is a directed calibrated plan and then executed.”
Over the past few weeks, Benue has witnessed a surge in deadly incursions, resulting in the loss of numerous lives and displacement of residents.
Alia, citing intelligence reports, emphasized the calculated nature of the violence.
“On a daily basis we are receiving those intel. Of late, each of those intel we receive, 60 to 65 per cent of it is quite accurate,” he stated.
“And then when you realise what is going on, 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 further noted that the attackers possess a high level of tactical efficiency, describing their methods as reminiscent of guerrilla warfare.
“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,” Alia added.
In a startling revelation, the governor accused certain serving members of the National Assembly of fueling the crisis in Benue State.
Though he withheld specific names, he referenced an interim report from a judicial panel he inaugurated, which implicated prominent political figures.
“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,” the governor disclosed.
“It is very unsettling because some 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, keeping them in the bushes and taking care of all their bills and buying all the gadgets for them.”
Describing such actions as intolerable, Alia pledged to confront those implicated once the final report is submitted.
“This is extremely unacceptable. If they do not like the lives of the people and are fighting for their own political position, I think I am serving the interest of the common masses and it is my right to protect them.
“So, once we receive this report the coming week, we are going to take it up and take it seriously.”