Benue State Governor, Hyacinth Alia, has accused prominent politicians in Abuja and the National Assembly of fueling violence in the state by allegedly supporting, harbouring, and providing for those behind the ongoing crisis.
Alia made the allegation during Friday’s Politics Today program on Channels Television.
He described the situation as “very unsettling”, noting that while the said politicians were interested in fighting for their position, it was his right to protect and serve the interests of the masses.
“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.
“This is extremely unacceptable. 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,” the governor said.
Although he did not mention the names of any politicians who may be involved, Alia stated that he had set up a judicial panel to investigate the reasons behind the attacks, adding that the report indicted many big names and vowed to take up the matter when he receives the full report.
“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.
“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,” he said.
He also declared that the state was “under siege”, adding that he believed that the crisis was some form of terrorism and was beyond ethnic farmer-herder clashes.
“We are under siege. 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.
“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 stated.
