Benue State Governor Hyacinth Alia has alleged that certain serving members of the National Assembly are behind recent violent attacks in the state.
Speaking on Friday during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today, Alia described the situation as deeply troubling and unacceptable.
While he stopped short of naming individuals, the governor revealed that a preliminary report from a judicial panel investigating the violence has implicated several prominent figures.
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He added that once the full report is submitted next week, his administration will take decisive action.
“It is very, very unsettling because top 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 and feeding them in the bushes, and taking care of all their needs and buying all the other gadgets for them.
“This is extremely unacceptable. If they do not love the lives of the people and they’re only fighting for their own position, I think I am serving the interest of the common masses and it is a concern to me, and it is my right to protect it.
“We set up a judicial panel to sort out for us why we kept having attacks from within and from without, and we have received an interim report. Between Tuesday and Wednesday next week, I am going to get a full report from the panel,” he said.
Several people were feared dead and many others injured on Friday following a fresh attack by suspected armed herdsmen along the Makurdi–Naka road.
The area has reportedly been under the control of armed Fulani militia groups for weeks, despite ongoing assurances from the military that action would be taken.
