Tinubu in Benue: We shall not continue to bury people, breed orphans, widows
Tinubu in Benue: We shall not continue to bury people, breed orphans, widows
…LP, PDP laud visit, insist on Anti Open Grazing Law implementation
By Idun Maximus
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has declared that enough is enough of the Benue killings and that the country can no longer continue to bury her people, make children orphans and women widows.
The President who stated this in Makurdi, the Benue State capital, during his visit sympathized with Benue people especially the people of Yelwata Town over the attacks and emphasized the need for unity, sincere leadership, and actionable peace strategies.
Addressing stakeholders during a Town Hall meeting, the president expressed his commitment to address the incessant attacks, killings and displacements of communities in the state.
President Tinubu said he wants to come to Benue to commission projects for progress and development that would give hope and prosperity and not to bury innocent citizens.
The president who also expressed shock that no perpetrator has been arrested so far ordered security agencies to do their work and ensure that those responsible for the heinous crimes were apprehended and brought to book.
He therefore called on the state governor, Rev Fr Hyacinth Alia, to work with all stakeholders to ensure the required peaceful atmosphere for peace and stability in the state.
He said: “We are here to help you with peace to Fastrack development. You as Governor are elected under the progressive banner to ensure peace, stability and progress so that we can commission projects.
“We shall not continue to bury people from ages to ages, breed orphans and widows. We are here to assist you achieve peace. It is you who will work with us as well to show us the way because politics is local.
“Ensure to work with everybody because not everyone will like you in politics. They hate me as well but I am the President and under democratic regime, in need to protect my abusers and praisers in line with the principles of democracy for prosperity.
“It is God that gave you leadership at this time, there are one in a million of mischief people, of Benue, Tiv, Idoma and all over Benue, they work round day and night to carryout their hatchet jobs.
“They can work you into the hands of your enemies. I have faced this type of challenges in Lagos when I was Governor. Your ability, maturity will define solution to the present situation.
“You don’t have a nuclear family of your own, you are a father to all including myself as the President. So, the people of Benue deserve the peace, traditional rulers should join hands. It could have been a better day to clean the lapses and enjoy the progress because we know the people of Benue with their hospitality.”
He appealed to the governor to announce in a broadcast that people should donate more blood to victims at the hospital and thanked the hospital management for their efforts and assured to find solutions to the killings.
He stated: “We have heard about land grabbing but we should learn how to share and accommodate because we have enough land to feed and raise our children for the sake of happiness and prosperity.”
Speaking, the state Governor, Hyacinth Alia, commended President Tinubu for his visit to the state to condole with the state and to proffer solutions to the wanton killings in the state.
Alia noted that the attacks on the peace-loving people of Benue State have persisted for over a decade and expressed hope that the President’s visit would bring an end to the security challenges.
The governor urged the federal government to consider establishing a special intervention fund for communities affected by the attacks in Benue State, stressing that such a fund would support the rehabilitation of displaced persons, rebuilding of destroyed infrastructure, and restore the livelihoods of farmers and families.
Governor Alia equally reiterated his support for the establishment of state police as a sustainable solution to the persistent insecurity in the state, expressing belief that the federal government could address concerns surrounding its implementation by setting clear guidelines and regulatory frameworks.
Also speaking, the Tor Tiv, HRM Orchivirigh, Professor James Ayatse told the President that Benue was facing a full war situation and that those encouraging his subjects to coexist with herders were saying they should live with warriors.
He said President Tinubu has the capacity to handle even more complex challenges, appealing that they should ensure an end to the genocide for his people to go back to their farms to feed the country.
The Tor Tiv who noted that the Tiv people in Nasarawa state have been there since the 19th Century lamented that they are being dispossessed of their land and other valuable property, appealing to the president to assist in protecting the indigenous Tiv People in Nasarawa state.
He recalled it was in the habit of Benue people to vote on the basis of capacity and performance, hence the reason people of the state voted for him, assuring him of Benue people’s continued loyalty and support beyond 2027.
Meanwhile, the opposition Labour Party (LP) in Benue State has commended the President for his visit and condolence to the state.
The party through its State Publicity Secretary, Comrade Tersoo Orbunde said “We, from the Labor Party commend the president for the visit. We cried and he has heard and responded. Even if it is not swiftly but we can say he responded.
“We appreciate him for the discussions and for finding ways to end the insecurity in Benue State. It is not something to trade blames. Now that he has come, he has seen it himself. Now we are waiting to see the action he would take for the insecurity to end. The high point of the visit is taking action that would stop these killers and insecurity.”
Orbunde who responded to the viral videos showing the state authorities cleaning and clearing the city at night, disapproved of “the ad-hoc arrangement” to clean the city, saying they shoulder rather make it a point of duty to ensure that Benue is clean at all times.
He said: “Sometimes an event would wake you from your slumber. Now Governor Alia has seen that the state is unkempt, the visit of the President has wakened him to see that grasses are to be cut, refuse is to be removed.
“The government should not wait for the visit of a very important personality to clean the city but that he should continue from today and ensure that Benue state is kept clean. The relevant agency should be funded adequately to carry out their job,” he said.
On their part, the Peoples Democratic party, (PDP), while acknowledging the President’s directive for a committee be set up to look into the crisis and come up with report that may offer some sort of solution, said it would be proper not to pre-empt him but to watch and see what that committee would do.
The PDP who spoke through the Publicity Secretary, Tim Nyor however: “Let me make it clear, the position of the PDP is that that the solution to the crisis remains ranching.
“We have had these committees leading up to the promulgation of the Anti Open Grazing Law that the solution remains ranching. There is a part of his speech where he mentioned giving out land, we do not have land to dash out to anybody in terms of grazing reserves or something else but for ranching as a business, the law was “Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law”, so if the herders want land to come and ranch their cows, then the law makes provision for them. For my party, we stand by the law.”
