Gov. Alia Blames Abuja Politicians for Benue Killings

Benue State Governor, Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Alia, has blamed Abuja politicians for being responsible for the armed banditry and killings in the Sankera area of the state, comprising Katsina-Ala, Ukum, and Logo Local Government Areas of the state.

Alia, who made the accusations on Sunday after attending a Thanksgiving service organised at the Chapel of Grace, Government House Makurdi, complained that the bandits were homegrown and had taken up arms to kill their own.

He was commenting concerning a current attack in Sankera that initially claimed six lives in Ukum LGA and launched a violent protest and another cold-blooded murder of 18 in Katsina-Ala LGA, as well as the viral video of bandits threatening to kill more in that area and the move by his administration to end the bloodletting.

The governor compared the complex security issues in the Sankera area to an octopus, emphasising the multiple and interconnected threats facing the people of Ukum LGA.

The governor said, during my campaign, I informed every faceless person in the three senatorial districts who were creating insecurity in the state to sheathe their swords and that the new administration was coming in to free them, to get them out of the forest and restrict them from killing their siblings. And that is what we have been trying to do.

“Unfortunately, the involvement of politicians has worsened the long-standing instability in the area.

“And what pains me most is that the violence is never created by the external forces but by local people turning against their own families and communities, preventing them from going to farm.

In other places, if you are talking of insecurity, you are fighting external forces trying to grab land and to destabilise the lives of the people in those areas. But in Ukum LGA and Sankera axis, this is a different and strange story.