Benue State Governor, Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Alia, has attributed the latest round of violent attacks in the state to armed herders, whom he claims now enter without cattle but fully armed.
Speaking during an interview on Channels Television on Monday, the governor provided insight into the security situation in the wake of a deadly assault on Yelwata community in Guma Local Government Area.
The attack reportedly left over 100 people dead.
Following the massacre, enraged youths from the Yelwata area blocked the Lafia-Makurdi highway in protest.
Demonstrations continued into Sunday morning in Makurdi, the state capital, where police resorted to firing teargas to disperse the crowds.
When asked about those responsible for the violence, Governor Alia emphasized the changing nature of the threat now facing the state.
“The phase of the new attacks comes this way. Before now, we were talking about the farmers/herders crisis, now it has graduated from there, it has become the question of herders coming in and the armed men were among them,” he said.
He described the attackers as carrying high-powered rifles, entering without livestock, and targeting communities.
“We tagged them the armed herdsmen. What we experience, generally, is that the herd are not being brought in but those who are in the frontline fighting out here are only carrying AK-47 and AK-49,” he said.
Governor Alia pointed out a disturbing pattern in the aftermath of the attacks.
“They attack, kill, and after one week, a number of people now come back to occupy,” he noted, suggesting a systematic effort to seize land.
Reflecting on the changes from previous years, the governor recalled that 2024 saw relative peace in some areas.
“Last year, people had gone back home and engaged in farming activities with bountiful produce,” he said. “But this farming season again, we started experiencing the phase of the new attacks.”
He went on to highlight the suspicion that internal actors may be aiding external attackers.
“What we understand on the ground is a simple equation. A thief will not just come to a community unless there is someone within the community who leads the thief to your house or the community,” Alia stated.
He concluded by expressing concern over how what began as a farmer-herder conflict has evolved into something far more dangerous.
“What we have now is that, strangely, it is the fact that the herders had a crisis, the armed herders hijacked it and now the bandits, and terrorists have come in completely. That is the situation on the ground,” he said.
