Benue State Governor, Hyacinth Alia, has sympathised with residents affected by the renewed wave of violence, displacement, and destruction of farmlands across several communities in the state.
Speaking on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief programme on Monday, Alia assured citizens that the Federal Government had not turned a blind eye to the crisis, noting that the recent visit of the Chief of Army Staff, Lt-Gen Olufemi Oluyede, was a testament to ongoing efforts to restore peace.
“I sympathise deeply with the people who have lost loved ones, homes, and their farmlands. It is painful,” Alia said.
The governor provided a chilling update on the evolving nature of the violence, saying the crisis had long shifted from the farmer-herder clashes to targeted attacks by gunmen posing as herders.
“Before now, we were talking about farmer-herder crisis. Now, it has graduated into something else — the attackers no longer come with cows, but with AK-47s and AK-49s,” he said.
He described the attackers as “armed herders” whose goal, he alleged, was to invade, kill, and occupy.
“They attack, they kill, and after one or two weeks, people now come back to occupy. That’s what we’re facing,” he added.
In a worrying revelation, Governor Alia did not rule out internal collaboration between some residents and the attackers.
“It is very possible that members of the state have been recruited into the external militia. We can’t deny that,” he said.
The governor noted that the names of suspected collaborators had already surfaced in investigations.
“A thief will not just come into a community unless there is someone within who lives nearby. There are some bandits within these territories,” he added.