Fiddling While Benue Burns

Where are the retired generals and other senior military officers of Tiv and Idoma extractions who played key roles during Nigeria’s military regimes?

If the retired military officers from Benue State are now lethargic because their influence ended with the glorious era of the military, how about the political leaders in the state?

These are the questions agitating the minds of other Nigerians as bandits from other states and the neighbouring countries slaughter residents of the state in what many, including former Governor Samuel Ortom have described as a land grabbing mission.

As residents of the state are being massacred, their leaders appear to be fiddling while the state is burning.

There was a report last week that a team of armed policemen cordoned off the state secretariat of a major political party in Makurdi, the state capital due to the political tussle between Governor Hyacinth Alia and other the leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Since the governor was inaugurated on May 29, 2023, the leaders of different political parties in the state appear to be more focused on fighting a supremacy battle than joining hands to tackle their common enemies who are determined to wipe out the indigenous population.

The political crisis became so embarrassing that the Tiv Traditional Council led by the Tor Tiv, Prof. James Ayatse, once brokered peace between some of the warring factions, who have since refused to sheathe their swords.

The residents of the state are being killed almost on a daily basis with over 50 people reportedly killed in Ayati community in Ukum Local Government Area in the last two weeks.

International watchdog, Amnesty International, recently revealed that about 2,600 persons, mostly women and children, were killed following attacks on 50 communities in the state between January 2023 and February 2024.

The refusal of the leaders of the state to join forces to fight their common enemies just shows that a majority of them do not care about the plight of the masses. A state where hundreds of indigenes are in IDP camps because they have been sacked from their communities by bandits.

It is believed that as long as the killings do not affect them and their immediate families, they do not mind if the rest of the people continue to live with insecurity for forever. 

Many Nigerian leaders fight over the control of political structure and other issues concerning their selfish interests.

But what is political structure without the people?

Why don’t leaders of the state, including retired military officers convene a security summit to explore ways of resisting their invaders.