Yoruba people have a saying that goes thus: The Alfa (Islamic cleric) preaches, then thunderstorm roars, so he says divinity bears him witness. This saying aptly describes an event involving President Bola Tinubu, who, not long ago, called for peaceful coexistence among tribes after an armed attack in Benue State. That time, the call was rejected by some who argued that there were no inter-tribal conflicts in the state. However, what Tinubu said was proved right recently. I shall return to it. This month, Benue State Governor, Hyacinth Alia, introduced drone surveillance to capture “real-time emergency response images and videos” in troubled communities. This was something I had canvassed on this page, so the initiative caught my attention.
It was what I intended to comment on here, but news of another attack emerged in the same week. Two youths of the Igede tribe were killed in an attack said to have been carried out by members of another tribe. Vanguard Newspaper (August 5, 2025) gave a backdrop, stating, “There has been tension between the Igede-speaking people of Oju and Obi Local Government Areas of Benue State and their neighbouring Tiv communities in Gwer East and Konshisha Local Government Areas.” The latest attack followed “the killing of two middle-aged men, Jonathan Ogah and Gabriel Ogodo, from Oju LGA by suspected Tiv youths at Ulam community in Gwer East Council of the state”. At the time the latest attack happened, there was another one in which nine persons were killed “in a renewed attack by suspected armed herdsmen on communities in Agatu Local Government Area of Benue State”. It happened that it was in this same week that Alia’s government announced the acquisition of security surveillance equipment.
My last intervention regarding Benue was in July after another attack. The President visited the state. Some asserted that no communal clashes had ever happened in Benue and that everything was “genocide”. Part of my focus back then was to cite examples of communal attacks that made it into the news. I pointed out that communal clashes had actually happened after Tinubu assumed office, so the President got his information right before calling on the different tribes in the state to resolve their differences. That time, I cited an example of an attack that had happened back in July 2023, barely two months into the Tinubu administration. It’s worth noting that on November 1, 2024, Arise TV had a report on YouTube stating that 30 Igede youths were killed in an attack. The president of Igede Youth Council spoke at a press conference, alleging that there was a grand plan to eliminate the Igede people.
At the press conference, another member, Reuben Odee Ominyi, specifically called on the National Boundary Commission to settle the boundary issues between Igede and some Tiv communities, stating further that the attack happened over a land dispute. My reason for referring to inter-tribal attacks is to state that I stand by the assertion I’ve made for over a decade on this page that insecurity in the North-Central is more complex than the narrative which attributes every attack to “suspected Fulani herdsmen”. Many know this fact, but they’re silent. The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume, isn’t silent because he recently called on his people to dialogue.
Here, I proceed to state that if any group continues to live in denial of the complexity of the state of insecurity, as well as accept the need to deal with local disputes through dialogue, they have their conscience to question. For it seems to me there’s a decision to either acknowledge communal clashes or blame “suspected Fulani herdsmen”, depending on which fits into their narrative at any given time. I hope no group is profiting, within or outside Nigeria, from such manoeuvres. It can’t bring about solutions. And who suffers?
After the July attack, there was a denial of any communal clashes in Benue State, thereby countering Tinubu’s call for dialogue. This time, though, residents separated the killing of two Igede youths by a rival tribe from the killing of nine people in Agatu LGA, attributed to “suspected Fulani herdsmen”. Now, I suppose if Tinubu asked tribes in Benue to settle their differences, no one would counter him by sweeping the latest attacks under “genocide”, “religious persecution”. We’re getting somewhere, and like it happens in the Alfa anecdote, the latest attacks are a thunderstorm bearing witness that Tinubu is right.
So, Alia adopts the use of drones to monitor the situation in flashpoint areas. Good. I had made a call for such under his predecessor, who appeared keen to finger-point rather than adopt effective solutions. The drones Alia introduced were what I advocated for adoption in all the states where every attack was routinely attributed to herdsmen. But in the North-West, “bandits” is the tag for attackers, while in the North-Central and North-East, every attack is attributed to herdsmen, whether or not reprisal attacks happen between local communities and herdsmen who clash due to scarce resources. For instance, this month in Taraba State, Channels TV reported local communities who admitted they killed cattle that entered their farmlands. In return, herders attacked them in their villages. Even in the South-East, where Governor Charles Soludo of Anambra State says his people are the ones arrested for attacks on communities, many who like the “suspected Fulani herdsmen” narrative don’t believe him. I don’t canvass approval for acts of criminality; what I state is that each insecurity issue should be attended to based on facts, not sentiment that’s already skewed against one Nigerian ethnic group.
For me, there’s an alternative to what is happening regarding these unfortunate attacks. There’s an alternative to talking about problems, not solutions, as many state governors do. There’s an alternative to refusing to acknowledge that the insecurity situation is more complex than blaming only herders, even in localities where reprisal attacks have been carried out by both sides. There’s an alternative to government officials forever finger-pointing, thereby further inciting hate against an entire ethnic group that some historically have hatred for. This doesn’t solve the problem. There’s an alternative to saying every attack is “religious persecution” of one group, when members of other religions, too, are killed in their hundreds in the current state of insecurity across the nation. There’s an alternative to saying land is being grabbed and occupied by foreign herdsmen.
Regarding this claim, Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Christopher Musa, who’s a Christian, said lately that soldiers were sent on patrol in Benue State, but “some of the areas are empty. Nobody is there; there are no foreigners there”. Musa added that the “issue of land grabbing is political”, requesting state governments to bring warring communities together to resolve it.
There’s an alternative to saying all is fine among the different tribes in Benue, when the pre-2023 election season actually put tribal animosity on display – the then deputy governor was denied opportunity because of his disliked minority tribe. There’s an alternative to refusing to sit and resolve local land disputes, while calling on the FG and foreign governments to stop attacks. I think unresolved local disputes are more dangerous than attacks attributed to herdsmen. Reason? Enemies within can do more harm than any outsiders can. Outsiders may be kept out. Locals can’t be kept out. Locals know one another well, and no amount of surveillance technology adopted by governments can prevent them from doing one another harm.
I think one alternative here is to clearly identify the causes of attacks in each locality and address them. Disputes among local communities should be resolved, as the President recently stated. The latest unfortunate killing of two Igede youths buttresses his point. Meanwhile, threats from any perceived outsiders should be curbed through intense surveillance, as the state government plans to do. Security outfits should respond promptly to information supplied by residents to avert attacks or stop them. Then, the Benue State Government should let local governments have all the federal allocations meant for them. This ensures LGAs provide adequately funded local security networks. LGAs secure their territories best and can respond faster – whatever state governments and the FG do should be an addition. Wherever state governments withhold funds meant for LGAs, residents should reject the finger-pointing antics of state government officials and hold them responsible for insecurity.
Credit:Punch