Benue State Governor, Hyacinth Alia, has declared that the state is under siege from terrorists and bandits.
Alia said that the recent attacks that have claimed several lives is beyond herders-farmers clash.
According to reports, there has been a surge in attacks in the state in recent weeks, with several local government areas experiencing violent onslaughts that have claimed numerous lives.
The governor, who made this declaration on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Friday, said that the attacks are well planned and executed by terrorists. “We are under siege.
The way these attacks come and the intel we receive, it is a directed calibrated plan and then executed.
“On a daily basis we are receiving those intel. Of late, each of those intel we receive, 60 to 65 per cent of it is quite accurate.
“And then when you realise what is going on, it is beyond just conflict, it is beyond just an ethnic fight between herders and farmers in our state, it is directed, it is planned and then it is executed, it is some terrorism,” he said.
The Catholic priest-turned politician insisted that he no longer views the attacks as a clash between farmers and herders, stating that they now involve specialized killers—terrorists who engage in a form of guerrilla warfare.
He said that for some reason, none of the killers was ever caught, adding that they come in the thick of the night, hit, run and nobody sees a trace.
