Attackers of Benue communities not Nigerians, says Gov Alia
Benue State Governor, Hyacinth Alia, says the criminal elements involved in the recent killings across the state are not Nigerians.
He said they were found speaking unfamiliar languages and exhibit foreign characteristics.
Alia disclosed this on Tuesday while speaking as a guest on Politics Today, a current affairs programme on Channels Television.
He was responding to the assaults on the state that have left scores killed and hundreds of residents displaced.
When asked about the identity of the attackers terrorising communities in the state, the governor said it was important to first clarify the nature of the threat.
“Let’s have the narrative very correct. We know Nigerians—by our ethnicities, we can identify a Fulani man, a Yoruba man, a Hausa man—we know them. Even the regular traditional herders, we know them. They work with cows, herding with sticks,” Alia said.
“But these folks [the attackers] are coming in fully armed with AK-47s and 49s. They do not bear the Nigerian look. They don’t speak like we do. Even the Hausa they speak is one sort of Hausa.”
The governor said intelligence from locals suggested the attackers could be foreign nationals.
“It’s not the normal Hausa we Nigerians speak. So it is with the Fulani they speak. There is a trend in the language they speak, and some of our people who understand what they speak give it names.
“They say they are Malians and different from our people. But they are not Nigerians—believe it,” he added.
Governor Alia said this marked a new and more dangerous phase of violence compared to previous confrontations with traditional herders.
“This is the second phase we are seeing. The initial ones were with the traditional herders. The traditional herders—we had fewer troubles with them.
“What we are experiencing has a new, different, strange face, and it’s now alarming,” the governor said.
“These terrorists are everywhere. We are under a siege. These people just come and hit and kill and run back. Where are they running to?”
He revealed that the attacks appeared highly coordinated and strategically executed.
“The way these killings are being planned and carried out is definitely coordinated,” he stated.
“Some local government areas in Benue share borders with Cameroon, and those borders are quite porous.”
The governor also said intelligence reports point to the existence of terrorist hideouts in parts of Taraba and Nasarawa states, as well as in areas within Cameroon.
“The terrorists have their havens in Taraba, Nasarawa, and in border regions of Cameroon,” Alia stated.
This came amid growing concern over a spate of attacks across Benue and Plateau states that have claimed dozens of lives, displaced entire communities, and deepened the security crisis in Nigeria’s Middle Belt.
Two weeks ago, on the same show, Plateau State Governor, Caleb Muftwang, also raised fresh concerns about the identity of those behind the persistent killings in the state, revealing that many of the attackers do not speak any known Nigerian language.
