GOVERNOR Hyacinth Alia on Monday opened up on a truce-seeking meeting he held with President Bola Tinubu and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), George Akume.
The governor, who was a guest on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief programme monitored by News Point Nigeria, said the President convened the meeting as part of a political solution to end the gruesome killings in the state.
Benue, a food-producing state in Nigeria’s North-Central zone, has been under heavy attacks by gunmen for some time. The killings have lingered for years, with some linking it to inter-communal conflicts as well as the quest for land dominance between the agrarian dwellers and nomadic cattle rearers.
However, the killings in the last few weeks have been without a break. At least over 160 residents were confirmed killed in a series of attacks by gunmen who wreaked havoc in different communities in the state.
On Sunday, the President charged the governor with convening reconciliation meetings and dialogue among the warring parties to end the incessant bloodshed and bring lasting peace and harmonious coexistence between farmers, herders, and communities.
There have been reports of perceived feud between Alia and Akume, a former governor of the state, over the control of the structure of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state. Both Alia and Akume are members of the ruling party.
On Monday, Alia said the crisis must be tackled with different methods including reconciliations.
He said, “We have a complex situation that is primarily being sponsored from somewhere, being remote-controlled from somewhere.
“We would be able to contain the intra-local government and the intra-local government crises in the state.
“The problem here is the externals who come in armed with their AK-47 and their AK-49.
“I think the president is not wrong to have said that we should find a common ground for reconciliation.
“He had invited the SGF and myself because of what he was hearing out there in the public. He tried to find out whether there were some differences between us.
“The SGF himself said there were no differences between us. If they were, going forward, there would be no anxiety at all. So, the traditional institutions should go to their beds with eyes closed.”
Alia also refuted claims that the Federal Government has not come to the aid of the people of Benue State to defend them against vicious, blood-thirsty marauders.
“If he (President Bola Tinubu) didn’t have an understanding of what is going on, he won’t be giving us full support,” the governor said on the television programme.
“Seventeen local governments out of 23 were under siege and then we fought it down to nine local governments. We fought it down to six and now to three. It came down because of the full support we got from the Federal Government.”