Benue State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Governor Hyacinth Alia at the weekend bicker over the alleged murder of two cattle traders said to members of Cow Dealers Cooperative Society (CDCS), Katsina-Ala chapter by gangsters operating around the Kwande local government axis of the state.
The cattle traders were said to be conveying cows, bags of rice and goats to the eastern part of the country through Nyihemba community in the local government on a thoroughfare where their truck allegedly fell accidentally leading to the ugly incident.
On getting wind of the incident, Governor Alia, via his Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Prof. Joseph Alkali, swiftly held a meeting with stakeholders of Kwande local government at Jato Aka council hall and some representatives of the association where he condemned the attack and gave traditional rulers in the community seven days ultimatum to produce killers of the traders who were suspected to be herdsmen.
But perturbed by the governor’s disposition to the incident, the PDP described as biased and a double standard, the ultimatum issued by Governor Alia to the traditional rulers to produce alleged killers of the said two cattle traders.
The party, in a statement by its Publicity Secretary, Mr. Bemgba Iortyom, regretted that “in the same Turan area where the governor issued an ultimatum over the death of just two traders, armed herdsmen have been on a relentless killing spree since his coming to office a development that gave rise to establishment of pockets of Internally Displaced Camps for victims of herdsmen attacks, which did not qualified for an ultimatum by the state government.
“It is in Turan that Fulani herdsmen have sacked and occupied an entire council ward known as Moon, and though this happened before him, it should rationally be expected that if Governor Alia is serious about addressing insecurity, he shouldn’t start with a crackdown on traditional rulers in Turan for the death of the two traders.
“The party recalls that this is the same Governor who has kept sealed lips while bandits whom he openly confessed to having had a pact with during the campaigns and who he referred to as his “brothers in the bush”, have embarked on a wanton spree of killings and kidnappings, with one of their victims lately being the governor’s Commissioner for Information and Culture, Matthew Abo.
“PDP wonders what then informs this stark and shocking disparity in importance between the alleged death of the two traders on one hand, and the killing of hundreds of Benue people on the other, at the hands of herdsmen, terrorists and bandits, some of whom the governor has confessed to knowing, yet, has never issued any ultimatum to anyone about.
“The party is also curious to know by what method of investigation was Governor Alia able to conclusively determine within 24 hours the culpability of the youths of Nyihemba in the alleged attack against the traders.
But Governor Alia, in a counter attack to the PDP, said his administration is indeed serious about securing the state and ridding it of criminal elements.
Governor Alia denied via his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Kula Tersoo “the allegation by the PDP that those murdered were Fulani herders”, stressing that it obviously is ‘a decoy by the party to mislead the unsuspecting public’.
“The public is hereby urged to disregard such bland and blanket falsehood as the usual antics of the PDP drawn from its familiar tone.
“It bears stating abundantly for the avoidance of doubt that no Fulani herders was among the two traders that were unfortunately killed by criminals.
“This is where it behooves the public to ask the PDP to not only stop their Nazi-style propaganda but to always seek to verify facts before setting out to mislead the public with their known fact-free and concocted fiction primarily aimed at stoking the embers of hate and sparking ethnic tensions”.
“It has to be clearly stated that what happened at Nyihemba was purely a criminal act and the perpetrators must be punished to serve as a deterrent to others”.
Governor Alia said the state cannot be allowed to slip into a state of anarchy where impunity and lawlessness reign supreme, adding that he will not surrender the state to criminal gangs, stressing that he will leave no stone unturned in ensuring that the people enjoy maximum security.
