By Akinwale Kasali
Governor Hyacinth Alia of Benue State has come under strong criticism by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, for allegedly not giving Security Agencies in the State the needed support to tackle insecurity in the State.
The PDP alleged that the failure of the Governor to produce necessary Logistics and material support to Security Agencies in Benue State to fight the worsening insecurity in the state has led to the escalation of the crisis in the North Central State.
The Party urged the Governor to partner with the National Assembly members from the State to tackle the security menace rather than engage in altercations with them.
PDP in a Statement issued Sunday in Makurdi, Benue State Capital, by its Publicity Secretary, Bemgba Iortyom, berated the Governor for blaming the killings in Gbagir, Ukum Local Government Area, LGA, of the state on cattle rustling and kidnapping by a militia leader.
While condemning the attacks and mourning with those who lost loved ones in the incidents, the party implored Governor Alia to take steps to expel armed herdsmen from the state and end further bloodshed in the state.
The party noted that “the attacks which took place in Gwer, Kwande, Ukum and Logo LGAs left as many as a reported 16 persons dead in one location alone, while various numbers of deaths were reported in other locations.
“PDP condemns these barbaric acts in the strongest possible terms, noting that they are totally unprovoked, with the perpetrators solely intent on violating the ban on open grazing of livestock which is in force in the state.
“The party also disagrees with Governor Hyacinth Alia’s submissions that the callous and criminal acts were the result of rustling of cattle belonging to Fulani herdsmen by some locals, which provoked the attacks.
“Governor Alia’s view is faulty to the extent that it ignores the original crime of the violation of the Prohibition of Open Grazing and Ranches Establishment Law by the herders, which renders their presence in the state and all of their actions thereto as willfully criminal.
“The Benue State Governor, therefore, misses the point completely by seeking to shift the blame from the criminals to the victims, even as by so doing he cuts the worrisome impression of one lacking in both the will and nous to uphold his oath to protect the people from the killer herdsmen and other criminals.
“ PDP calls on Governor Alia to come out of his lethargy and confront the monster of continuing herdsmen killings and despoliation of Benue under his watch.
“The Governor should enlist the support of members of the National Assembly from the state in the All important fight, rather than continue in needless and distracting altercations with them.
“He should also invest the monthly security vote available to his office to provide much needed logistical and equipment supports to security agencies in the state, including the Benue State Livestock Guards, which is the enforcement arm of the open grazing ban, so as to strengthen their hand in the fight against the terrorists.
“Governor Alia’s charge to security agents in the state to enforce the ban on open grazing without aiding them with vehicles and sundry gadgets, as had been the practice with previous administrations, amounts to paying mere lip service to an otherwise ultimately serious and grievous situation.
“Governor Alia should act now to expel the murderous herdsmen from Benue and stop further bloodletting in the state”, the statement reads.
