By Winnie Onu, Makurdi
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Benue State has accused Governor Hyacinth Alia of downplaying the severity of insecurity in the state by describing the persistent attacks on communities as “farmer-herder clashes.”
The party said the governor’s description at the security summit organised by the Federal Ministry of Defence in Makurdi was misleading, arguing that Benue had suffered repeated attacks, killings and displacement of rural communities rather than conventional clashes between farmers and herders.
In a statement issued on Tuesday by its State Publicity Secretary, Bright Yima Antyo, the PDP said the attacks had resulted in the deaths of thousands of residents, destruction of homes and farmlands and displacement of communities into internally displaced persons’ camps.
It said, “a clash implies two groups confronting each other on relatively equal terms,” whereas the attacks witnessed in Benue involved armed assailants invading vulnerable rural communities.
The opposition party accused the governor of creating a “false equivalence” between victims and attackers by describing the attacks as farmer-herder clashes.
According to the PDP, Benue communities have for years faced attacks in which residents were killed, homes burnt, farmlands destroyed and survivors forced to flee their ancestral homes.
The party also faulted the governor for what it described as a lack of urgency in drawing national attention to the scale of insecurity confronting the state during the summit.
It said while governors from some other states used the forum to condemn attacks on their people and advocate measures to address insecurity, Alia was more concerned with presenting what it described as a misleading narrative.
The PDP said Benue residents expected the governor to speak with “passion, empathy and determination” on the killings and displacement affecting communities across the state.
It further accused the governor of failing to adequately defend victims and called on him to use the powers of his office to demand justice, protection and accountability for affected communities.
The party also urged the Federal Government and security agencies to intensify efforts to identify, arrest and prosecute those responsible for attacks in Benue, including their alleged collaborators.
It said displaced residents should be enabled to return safely to their communities, while victims and their families should receive justice.
The PDP maintained that it would resist any attempt to portray the security crisis as mere communal disagreements or to equate aggressors with victims.
