By Chiangi Avese, Makurdi
Governor Hyacinth Alia has avouched that he has never denied the killings of Benue citizens by bandits and terrorists, regretting that his comments has been repeatedly taken out of context.
Speaking to journalists on Friday at the Government House Makurdi after a private meeting with Nobel Laureate Professor Wole Soyinka, the Governor said it was important for discussions on the crisis to be grounded in accurate interpretation and global understanding.
The governor noted that the term genocide must be understood from the historical and United Nations standpoint, cautioning that people often use the word without considering its origin, meaning, or the specific criteria required for an event to be classified as such.
He explained that his earlier statement that the attackers “executed their plans religiously” was simply an idiomatic expression meant to convey consistency, not a reference to religion.
“The media misread the metaphor, thereby fueling unnecessary controversy. I never, at any point, denied that my people were being killed,” the Governor said.
Gov. Alia maintained that, “we have bandits and terrorists who come fully organized to destroy, maim and kill. I have said consistently that their goal is land grabbing. This crisis did not begin as anything religious”.
“The conflict evolved from farmer-herder clashes into full-blown banditry and terrorism. There is no use reducing the complex situation to a religious narrative, pointing out that victims of both faith backgrounds had suffered attacks, and that framing the violence as religious was misleading and dangerous”, the governor emphasized.
Gov. Alia reminded the media to be instruments for building society, not tearing it down. “Seeking clarification is better than creating confusion,” he said.
He added that every life lost is “one too many,” and emphasized that the state continues to bear the emotional and humanitarian burden of people displaced from their ancestral homes. He said the presence of multiple IDP camps across Benue was a painful reminder of the scale of the attacks.
On development in the state, Governor Alia announced that several arterial road projects within Makurdi have been awarded and that full-scale construction would begin next week after the completion of preliminary works.
He described Professor Wole Soyinka as a sincere ally of the state, saying the literary icon came to see firsthand the progress being recorded.
In his remarks, Professor Wole Soyinka cautioned Nigerian leaders against seeking assistance from foreign nations whose interventions might worsen security challenges. He criticized the intentions of former U.S. President Donald Trump regarding Africa and lamented that Nigerians themselves sometimes worsen national problems by downplaying or rejecting potential solutions.
Soyinka commended Governor Alia’s developmental strides and recalled that during the previous federal administration, Benue became a hub for terrorist activities in the North Central region. He said the failure of former President Buhari to stop the killings led him to openly challenge the administration at the time.
The Nobel Laureate also noted that during his last visit, many displaced children were out of school, prompting him to donate books. Part of his mission on this visit, he said, was to find out whether those educational materials were being used to support children in IDP camps.
Professor Soyinka later toured parts of Makurdi to inspect ongoing government projects and visited several IDP camps to sympathize with the affected communities.
