By Mary Onyia
Benue State Governor, Hyacinth Alia, has accused unnamed serving politicians in the National Assembly of being behind the ongoing wave of terrorist attacks and killings in parts of the state, describing their actions as a grave betrayal of public trust.
Speaking during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Friday, June 6, 2025, Governor Alia claimed that these politicians are not only sponsoring the deadly attacks on Benue communities but are actively harbouring and financing the armed groups responsible for the violence.
According to him, preliminary findings from a judicial panel of inquiry he constituted have implicated “many big names” who are currently holding strategic political positions at the federal level. He stated that a full report from the panel is expected between Tuesday and Wednesday next week, after which decisive action will be taken.
“It is very unsettling because some politicians who are very functional and are in the National Assembly and are in Abuja are the architects and arrowheads of not just instigating but harbouring and keeping these people, keeping them in the bushes and taking care of all their bills and buying all the gadgets for them,” the governor stated.
“This is extremely unacceptable. If they do not like the lives of the people and are fighting for their own political position, I think I am serving the interest of the common masses and it is my right to protect them.
“So, once we receive this report the coming week, we are going to take it up and take it seriously,” he added.
The governor’s remarks come amid a sharp escalation in violent attacks across several communities in Benue, which he described as no longer isolated clashes between herders and farmers, but a coordinated wave of terrorism.
“We are under siege,” Governor Alia exclaimed during the interview. “The way these attacks come and the intel we receive, it is a directed, calibrated plan and then executed.”
“On a daily basis, we are receiving those intel. Of late, each of those intel we receive, 60 to 65 per cent of it is quite accurate. And then when you realise what is going on, it is beyond just conflict, it is beyond just an ethnic fight between herders and farmers in our state, it is directed, it is planned and then it is executed, it is some terrorism.”
Governor Alia further stressed that the nature of the attacks suggests a more organized, guerrilla-style campaign carried out by trained assailants.
“For some reason, none of them is ever caught. They come in in the thick of the night, hit, run, and nobody sees a trace. So, it is some terrorism that is eating us up,” he lamented.
His explosive allegations have sparked nationwide concern, with many Nigerians awaiting the release of the full judicial panel report and the names of those reportedly implicated in the security crisis.
Governor Alia’s courageous move and subsequent revelations are likely to ignite a political and legal firestorm in the days ahead, as communities in the state that have endured violence and bloodshed over the years yearn for accountability.
With Additional Report from Channels TV