Politicians’ behind banditry, killings in Benue – Gov Alia alleges

Benue State Governor, Hyacinth Alia has accused politicians of being behind the armed banditry and killings in the state.

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

In recent times, there have been consistent attacks and killings at the Sankera axis of the state, comprising Katsina-Ala, Ukum and Logo Local Government Areas.

The Governor was reacting to the recent attacks, which initially claimed six lives in Ukum LGA and triggered 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 axis and the move by his government to end the bloodletting.

He said, “I used that in the sense that we are talking about the composition of every frame and form of insecurity that has come up on the people of Ukum LGA.

“During my campaign, I told every faceless person in the three Senatorial zones who were creating instability in the state to sheathe their swords and that the new government was coming in to liberate them, to get them out of the bushes and stop them from killing their siblings. And that is what we have been trying to do.

“Unfortunately when the political wing of it comes into the fray, it kind of complicates what had been there. For many years there had been skirmishes of instability in the Ukum area.

“And what pains me most is that the instability is never created by the invaders, it is not from the outsiders. It is the homegrown bandits who come out there to kill their fathers and mothers and their brothers and sisters, stopping them from going to the farm,” he said.