NDC Governorship Candidate Says Killings In Benue Pose Existential Threat

The Benue State Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) governorship candidate, Prof. Terhemba Shija, has said the state is facing existential threat, following the continued attacks and killings across some communities by the suspected armed herdsmen.

In his acceptance speech as the party’s guber candidate in next year’s election, Shija lamented the current plight of Benue State, “Hundreds are butchered every other day in cold blood. Large swathes of ungoverned spaces are being created every week as murderous terrorists herdsmen and illegal miners take over ancestral lands.

“Scores of schools, hospitals, and markets have ceased to exist for many years in at least nine local government areas of the state. IDP Camps have multiplied in at least one third of the state, housing close to one million inmates in dirty and inhuman conditions.” Shija alleged.

He added, “While thousands of innocent citizens are killed and villages sacked, agriculture, which is the main occupation of Benue people, is abandoned. Farmers have fled their farms in fear of killer herdsmen. There is no subsidy to peasant farmers. Our people are perpetually stagnating in poverty and deprivation. Tens of thousands of our young graduates remain unemployed as there are no jobs created for them.”

He promised that, “In the coming seven months that precede the 2027 election, our campaigns shall traverse all nooks and crannies of Benue state. We do not only hope to plant the structures of our party, the NDC, and showcase our unique approach to politics”

The NDC governorship candidate paid glowing tributes to the party’s leader, Senator Henry Seriake Dickson and others for the current efforts to rescue Benue State from collapse.

Shija, however, commended his co-contestants for their camaraderie, describing them as people with “sterling qualities and integrity”.