Governor Hyacinth Alia of Benue State has declared that the state is now firmly under siege by terrorists, warning that the violence has escalated far beyond the traditional farmer-herder conflict that has plagued the region for years.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with ARISE NEWS on Monday, Governor Alia recounted the recent massacre in Yelwata community, where at least 151 people were confirmed dead, many burnt beyond recognition, and thousands displaced.

Reflecting on the roots of the conflict, Alia explained that while the region had experienced farmer-herder clashes for over two decades, the scale and nature of recent attacks have shown a dangerous shift to terrorism.

“A context behind the anxieties we started having in this local government spanned as far back as 22, 23 years ago. But how it happened was the herders clashed with the farmers. This took quite a long period of time, and then eventually in the last, say, 12 years, it shifted. It moved into the armed herders versus the entire communities.

“So again, the farmers were affected. They were every now and then driven off from their homes, homes destroyed, and then they had to leave their farmlands as well. And since it’s been there for quite some time, a good number of people were tired of seeing the repeat every now and then, and then shifted into towns, but were still mining their farmlands.

“Of late, what we experience and what we see is more appalling. It is much stronger, way beyond farmer-herder crisis. We’re being attacked by bandits and terrorists.”

He added, “The level of what we have experienced in the last two months, it’s so much alarming. When we took over our administration in 2023 of May, 17 local governments in the entire state were in the front lines of attacks. And all the attacks were led by the herders, the armed herders. We fought quite hard to bring the numbers of the local government in the front lines down from 17 to 9 local governments. We kept on the struggle and the fight, then every part of it cleared from the state. Unfortunately for us, the last two months have been very disastrous.”

Alia speaking in the aftermath of a brutal attack on Yelwata community, explained that the attackers entered the community by river, overwhelming military and police positions and targeting civilians in a coordinated onslaught that lasted for hours. Despite the presence of security personnel in the area, the gunmen were able to carry out the massacre largely unchallenged.

Governor Alia acknowledged that President Bola Tinubu responded promptly after the killings, deploying the Chief of Army Staff and mobile police units to bolster the state’s defences. Asked about the possibility of peace talks, Governor Alia said that while the president had advised him to convene meetings between warring groups, the realities on the ground suggest that the perpetrators are not local actors, but rather external forces waging an unprovoked war on the state. “We cannot identify the bandits,” he said, adding that traditional reconciliation structures may still play a role, but only if community-led border protection efforts are revived.

Governor Alia then confirmed that Tinubu is expected to visit Benue State this week. He expressed hope that the visit would not only provide much-needed national attention to the crisis but also lead to decisive action. “His presence would matter because presence matters,” he said.

Ozioma Samuel-Ugwuezi

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