Governor Hyacinth Alia of Benue State has stated that the people of Benue State require the full assistance of the federal government, not a state of emergency.
During his appearance on Arise Television’s “The Morning Show” on Wednesday, Alia made this claim.
Noting that he can manage the situation and that he needs further assistance from the FG to put a stop to the problem, he clarified that he has no influence over the insecurity in Benue.
His administration can prevent the state’s massacres, he said, but they need additional help to drive away the armed herders who are attacking villages.
He said, “What we need is emergency help for now. We need absolute support. The Federal Government is supported. They sent two armoured tanks that came in. Our situation had changed.
“We had a better narrative, but what we need to do is to get our people back home, to drive out the invaders, the armed invaders who have brought in people who do not even speak the Nigerian languages we speak.
“Let them move back to wherever they came from and allow us farmers to go back to our ancestral land. Calling for any emergency does not occur here.”
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Alia, however, rejected the idea that the security issue in the state was too much for him to manage.
He noted that the number of local governments under attack has dropped from 17 to six since he took office.
He said this shows that his administration can handle the violence and destruction caused by killer herders, many of whom, he believes, are not even Nigerians.
He stated, “We couldn’t have trimmed it from 17 local governments in the front lines of the attacks to nine and then now to six, which means we have the capability to do this, but we need help. And that is a fact.”
