BY REV FR GERALD
NWAFOR
In the last five years, I have watched the people of Benue lose everything. I remember the former Governor moved from APC-led government to PDP, because Buhari’s APC did not want to help, according to the then-Governor Otorm. Now a new sheriff came to town in the person of Rev Fr. Hyacinth Alia. His election was greeted with pomp and pageantry. Many of us thought that would be the end of the herdsmen and farmers clash in Benue State, the food basket of the nation. Far from ending the clashes of those titans, the conflict escalated to the level that the international community was invited to witness the pogrom going on in the beloved state of Benue.
When we were young, we always ran to our father for protection, even when the apparent and clear danger was stronger than our father: that is the bus stop, in that he was all we knew about security. The people of Benue have run to their father, biological and spiritual, and the wanton killing of its citizens is still going on unabated.
Does it mean that the father of the nation does not care about the massacre, nor does he care about the bloodbath going on in Benue? As a young man, I used to drive from Awka to Benue around 6 PM to visit friends and family. The state was known for its calmness and safety. Food was cheap, they could finish a pot of pepper soup as long as there were drinks to wash it down. My friend Dr. Itodo Peter said gone are the days and my heart bled. How can you take away the happiness of the people just like that? I pity the Catholic priest who thought it was an easy job and fought the powers that be to pick the ticket of APC by going to court to reclaim his ticket and ultimately won the election. Now he has been in the driving seat in Benue since May 29th, 2025 and the statistics say more than 3,000 people have been killed.
A bishop from Benue State has gone to the United State Senate to report the case firsthand and some people shouted foul that he washed our dirty linen in public. If sickness did not hide you why are you hiding it (onye oya ezobero kedu ife oga eji zobe oya)? The people of Benue are like the proverbial orphan whose father has absconded his duty post, and he has been in search of a parent from all quarters. The APC-led federal government, which the state Governor belongs to, has not done anything to show that they care for Benue State.
On the other hand, the people living around Benue should be vigilant. The waters of the river always overflow its bank. Enugu state should be on the lookout because the story around Benue state is not only political in nature: it is also ideological and anthropological. If the people who came to do business in Anambra State start saying that the land belongs to them and start fighting for it, that is a sign of something bigger than ordinary politics. One of the Governors of the state said it was land-grabbing by some group of people in the state. So I ask, in this 21st century, who does not know where the boundary is in the Nigerian state, and if there is confusion about the boundary the court is available to settle the matter.
The people of Northern Nigeria have been in this kind of problem since 1800. Look at Plautie State, Kwara State, and many more: it has been killings on and on. I do not claim to have a magic solution to this problem, but truth will go a long way to solve the problem. The government should also come clean of this problem. They should not pick sides because they were of the same religion, political party, and tribe. Judgement based on these elements would not hold water because no religion would be president forever in Nigeria. No tribe has a monopoly on leadership, nor can any party be in power forever. It is only the truth that will last forever.
The Presidents we had since 1999 have not shown leadership in this regard. All the Presidents have taken positions based on politics, tribe, ethnicity, and religion. Benue is more of a Christian State but they have a number of Muslims living within and around it. Benue has a long history of war against the Islamic incursion down south and it was generally believed that it was the Benue warriors that stopped Islam from deepening the Qoran into the Niger as planned by the jihadists. But whatever it is that is the modern-day wahala, the government should be well-equipped to solve the problem. The people of Benue should not live in perpetual fear and danger. The Benue crisis can disrupt the peace and unity of the Nigerian federation if the government doesn’t handle it well.While putting together this work, I heard that the President will visit Benue to show solidarity. I ask myself if the people of Benue cared for the solidarity visit that would take out a lot of money from their coffers.
The army chief visited a month before this attack and promised to stay there until all peace was achieved. It was only when this recent attack happened that we knew that the army chief did not spend more than two days in the area before going back to wherever he came from. So, I am not a fan of this high-level visit. I want solutions to the problems so that the people of Benue can have their lives back and I can take off from Onitsha, Nnewi, Ekwulobia, and Awka anytime to visit Benue; that I can tell my friend Doctor that I am on the way any time without any fear. The families of the Benue victims, we commiserate with you. We thank Pope Leo XIV who in his Sunday prayer brought this sad event to the knowledge of the whole world. Meanwhile, the government of Nigeria was talking about Israel and Iran when his own house was on fire.
The Governor, who is a priest, should try his best to bring peace. I do not want to judge the Governor but from all the indices he is not doing enough. I saw his letter and plans on how to receive the President I was wondering if the President is coming to socialize or coming to solve problems. The Governor should please represent us very well since he is from the stock of Melchizedek. The people down south should start learning how to farm so that nothing will come to them by surprise, especially in the areas of feeding, since food is the most common element in the hierarchy of the human ecosystem. Let peace reign in Benue State, please the government of Nigeria.
