Governor of Benue State, Hyacinth Alia, has alleged that some serving politicians in the National Assembly (NASS) were sponsoring the attacks in Benue State, saying it was unacceptable.
Although he did not name the politicians, the governor who was a guest on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Friday, said the attacks were well planned and executed by terrorists and that an interim report of a judicial panel he set up indicted many big names and vowed to take up the matter as soon as he receives the full report next week.
He said the state was under siege from terrorists and bandits, adding that the recent attacks that claimed several lives was beyond herders-farmers clash.
“We are under siege,” Governor Alia said on the programme when asked if he thought the state was under terror attack, “The way these attacks come and the intel we receive, it is a directed calibrated plan and then executed. 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.
“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.”
According to CHANNELS TV, the governor said he no longer viewed the attacks as a clash between farmers and herders, stating that they now involve specialized killers—terrorists who engage in a form 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,” he said.
He said, “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.
“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.
“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.”
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