By Ben Atonko
By constitutional mandate, leaders are basically to care for the people whose destiny is in their (leaders’) hands.
Any government that fails to guarantee the security and well-being of the people is not worth its name.
As I write, the level of insecurity and hardship suffered by the people of Benue State is alarming. Life for many is short and brutish.
Every day, Fulani marauders are on the loose, displacing, maiming and killing the people. Many villages are deserted as the invaders unleash mass atrocities.
For long this has been happening. Yet business goes on in towns as if things are normal. The Benue State government hardly shows concern.
The level of insensitivity by the governor of Benue State, Hyacinth Alia is unimaginable.
Any incident that negatively affects citizens should draw the attention of the leader. The leader does not only acknowledge the happening, they quickly show empathy and console the people.
In civilised societies, government agents always respond timely to reported incidents — fire, flood, attacks etc.
A leader who does not show concern to the people’s plight is like Nero fiddling while Rome burned.
In countless instances the governor of Benue State has demonstrated either lack of capacity or unwillingness to attend to the pains of the citizenry.
In the face of a sustained harrowing ravages of the Fulani marauders, the governor shows little or no concern. When it started, he described it as nothing serious.
The height of Alia’s insensitivity is the description of mass atrocities as mere skirmishes. What would make a man trivilialise wanton hacking to death of defenceless women, children and the elderly?
When the people expressed unhappiness with his position, the governor pushed back saying the Fulani attacks are a reaction to the theft of animals by the Benue State people. At some point he accused local youths of perpetrating the attacks.
This resulted in the people throwing stones at him when he visited a place called Zaki Biam, Ukum Local Government Area.
When it became glaring that the Fulani are unrelenting in their campaign to decimate the people of the Benue valley, Alia called it the handiwork of foreigners.
According to him, the evil doers speak a strange brand of Hausa so they are no Nigerians.
By his reasoning, the attackers who migrated from Niger Republic moved deep into the hinterland, the central Benue State — of all places — to commit their murderous acts.
Alia has not for once called the Fulani killers for what they are. In fact, he blames his own people while exonerating the “known killers”.
In another breath, the governor blamed the killings on politicians who yearned for a declaration of State of Emergency in Benue State so that he would be removed from his seat.
He is insensitive to the plight of the displaced Benue State people who have lived over a decade in unsightly camps. Many have produced babies in the camps.
Even one with the heart of stone, seeing the brutality of the Fulani terrorists would cringe. But the priest governor is not. He does not want even a mention of it. He wants the people to carry on as if no evil is committed.
Surprisingly, the governor kowtows to the Fulani who do not want their wicked acts revealed. They want those suffering their evil to die in silence.
Alia’s promise during election campaign to restore security for the safe return of the displaced people in 100 days on assumption of office as governor has remained a mere talk.
It is not only in the area of insecurity, the governor has exhibited nonchalance in many other things.
He has no regard for due process. He awards contracts without procurement, without the knowledge of relevant government officers and due process.
His appointment of individuals into important offices does not reflect the wishes of the people. He brings in unknown people and places them. Even where there is an uproar and concerns about the character of the appointee, he would not hearken to the vox populi.
Immediately he came into office, he became obsessed with thoughts about a second term. Anything that threatens that hope must give way. At public fora, he mouths off how his eight years in office are as sure as tomorrow.
His apparatchiks have impudently hatched the slogan No Alia No Benue which is a motivation to attack anyone perceived to be a critic of the governor or anyone who is against his second term bid.
By this slogan, perceived enemies are attacked. Many have been chased away from Benue State. And Alia has not deemed it fit to rein his bigoted, intolerant and small-minded supporters.
Rather he urges them on by equally making vile, abhorrent and obnoxious speeches at gatherings.
It is awful that Alia has no regard for the gospel of peace by the church. On Aug. 31, a first class chief was nearly lynched in Gboko, during a church service following incendiary comment against the paramount ruler.
Why would the church, considered a hallowed and solemn place become a ground for hate and instigation of violence by Alia?
Even as hot online exchanges between the governor’s supporters and opponents translate to physical attacks, he is not moved.
Even more alarming was Alia’s show of nonchalance to the abduction of one of his aides by name Terver Atu on Sept. 17 in Abuja.
The family was in agony and the entire state cringed at the news of this development, yet neither the governor nor his administration offered a word of consolation or hope to the state.
The people wallowed in anxiety and confusion until news broke on Sept. 19 that Atu was found after torture by his abductors.
Similar I-don’t-care attitude was exhibited when one of the governor’s supporters by name Peter Haakyav was physically assaulted despite having security escort in Makurdi. The governor did not utter a word. Yet this is someone who sings the governor’s praises daily.
No point to wonder why the governor hardly shows compassion when the Fulani terrorists raid Benue State settlements.
It is a warning to the ordinary citizen of the state that they are on their own. Their survival is solely in their hands. They should not look up to the state for help or justice.
It clearly shows that Alia is for himself, not for the protection of the people as prescribed by the constitution and the oath of office he took on May 29, 2025.
He cannot denounce political violence because he is deeply involved in instigation of same.
What manner of unconscionable and unscrupulous man is Alia?
Atonko is a political analyst.
