Benue State Governor, Hyacinth Alia, has rejected claims that the state is experiencing genocide, acknowledging that while insecurity persists, it does not constitute the targeted killing of any particular group.
Speaking at an event hosted by the National Human Rights Commission in Abuja, the governor,who is also a Catholic priest, said his perspective is guided by both truth and his religious calling.
“I am a Reverend Father, so being in governance does not take that away from me. I am still a Reverend Father. I came in as a governor as a Reverend Father. I am working with the fear of God and the compassion of Christianity and humanity, and at the end of the day, I am still going back to the church as a Reverend Father and a Christian,” he stated.
Addressing allegations of large-scale targeted killings, Alia stressed, “In my state of Benue, we do not have any religious, ethnic, racial, national, or state genocide. We don’t have that. Do we have a number of insecurities in the state? Yes, we do, but it is not a genocide.”
The clarification came during a consultative forum in Abuja on the rights of Internally Displaced Persons and Forcibly Displaced Persons, organised by the National Human Rights Commission.
Alia argued that recent claims of genocide in the state do not align with recognized global definitions. While acknowledging that several communities in Benue have suffered serious attacks over the years, he maintained that these incidents do not meet the United Nations’ criteria for genocide.
“Do we have insecurity in the state? Yes, we do. But it is not a genocide. One would need to go through the United Nations definitions for this,” he said.
The governor traced most of the unrest to long-standing disputes between agro-pastoralists and crop farmers, explaining that while tensions have escalated over time, they still do not amount to genocide.
“Have we lost people? Yes, at different stages. I’m giving a background of the challenges we’ve had for many years, talking about agro-pastoralists and typical farmers. It began like a minor issue and then grew to huge proportions. But that does not fit the parameters of a genocide,” Alia said.
He further warned against politicising the security challenges in Benue, noting that mislabeling the situation could turn a serious issue into a political tool.
“For those who seek to politicise everything, there is no genocide in Benue State. But we do have security challenges,” he added.
Benue remains one of Nigeria’s states with a high number of displaced persons, following years of clashes in rural communities.
