Benue state governor, Rev Fr Hyacinth Alia, says he does not support calls for residents of his state to arm themselves with weapons.
Following the incessant k!llings in some parts of the state, there have been calls for residents of the state to arm themselves with weapons so as to fight off the insurgents whenever they come attacking their communities.
However, in a chat with AIT today June 17, the governor said he doesn’t support the calls for self defence but rather for an effective state police to be implemented.
‘’I think we would be rendering ourselves even more vulnerable. So, I wouldn’t advocate for self-defence.
I would encourage us all to keep calling for community policing because it is only people from within the state and the LGA who would understand what is going on with them”
When asked if what is happening in the state can be described as a genocide or ethnic cleansing, Governor Alia said
‘’Genocide…..I am trying to fit in the parameters of the description, This is what is happening to us., When a number of Local government areas are being attacked at different fronts, when we repel some, there is a push back and then they now move to the other corner and then they invite their bad friends to come in again, join their ranks to continue the f!ghts and when they come in, they care less about who is on the way, a farmer, market woman, a child, old woman or man, school children and then your properties do not matter. They just crush anything that is on their way.
If Genoc!de fits into this description of mine, then that would be it.
Then some other people talk about ethnic cleansing. I do not know the parameters of this definition but we have a number of tribes in the state but the tree major ones are TIV, Idoma and Igede and all the three at a certain point were under attack but particularly now comes at the TIV axis where we do more farming in the state. Other local government do farming as well but when you talk about the pivot of food basket, this are the zones. This depends on the kind of food or grains we are talking about.
These three areas we are talking about are where we have so vast unmanned portions of land where the attacks are coming.
So when they say ethnic cleansing, I am not sure it is an appropriate prescription of what we suffer but I can tell you that once they come in, anything in their way that would destabilize them, they first attack and then go for the most vulnerable”
