By Valentne Amanze
(29-04-2025)
08054103455
My heart bleeds anytime I attend funeral. It gets worse during mass burial.
I may not know the dead; he was humam like myself; with ambition and responsibilities.
I feel pain when humans created in God’s image are slaughted like Sallah ram.
I weep for the hundreds of people murdered in cold blood by criminals in Plateau and Benue states, recently.
They were taxes payers and voters, whom the government failed when it mattered most.
Perhaps, the last may not have been heard on the incidents, which may not attrack consequences. But, one clear thing is that the massacre did not happen in a war situation; but in a serene environment under the governors, whose responsibility is protection of lives and properties of citizens, irrespective of tribe and religion.
That is where the attitude of the present leadership to the citizens calls for questioning; and indeed, disheartening.
Party loyalty and the quest for re-election have taken the attention of the governors from their subjects.
In fact, they have prioritized personal ambition to the detriment of their subjects.
A typical example is in Benue State, where the governor is yet to shown serious commitment to the plight of the citizens.
The last time I checked, Rev Hycinth Alia, a Catholic priest, was still the Benue State governor.
Catholics embrace charity and philantrophy as a way of life.
In fact, the church strives on charity, truth and honesty – that is why a Catholic regularly confesses his sins.
A Catholic priest, though human, is expected to live like Christ, the author of their faith.
Jesus Christ did not discriminate while on earth. He embraced both the Jews and the Gentiles.
The same attitude I expect of Governor Alia – always standing by the truth, charity and honesty.
But he disappointed; choosing to be more loyal to his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) than the people he swore to protect.
No doubt, the ‘reverend governor’ is handling the plight of his devastated subjects lackadistically.
How could one explain his negative attitude to fellow Nigerians, who came to identify with him; and perhaps render assistance at this point when the state is bleeding?
First was the snubbing of Mr. Peter Obi, the Labour Party (LP) flagbearer, whom he prevented from assisting the poor and the needy at the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Benue State on April 14, 2025.
The other was the governor’s discussion of the killings on Channelstv.
Governor Hycinth Alia | File Image
Obi, who was surprised by Rev Alia’s poor attitude, more so, when he [Obi] had done a similar thing in Plateau State the previous day, expressed his disbelieve in a statement on Monday:
“May God help us as we rebuild our nation and strive for a new Nigeria, where we do not politicise everything, but instead live and act for the common good of all Nigerians, especially those in need.”
Obi also expressed concern about what he described as an unsettling incident, stating that ordinarily, he would have refrained from commenting, having endured far more challenging situations in his political journey.
Also read: Plateau killings: Christians stage peace walk to honour victims
Alia, who blocked Obi from assisting those affected by the attack, was on Channelstv Tuesday April 22, 2025, claiming that the perpetrators of the recent wave of killings across the state were not Nigerians, stating that they speak unfamiliar languages and exhibited foreign characteristics.
When asked about the identity of the attackers terrorising communities in the state, the governor said that it was important to first clarify the nature of the threat.
“Let’s have the narrative very correct. We know Nigerians — by our ethnicities; we can identify a Fulani man, a Yoruba man, a Hausa man —we know them. Even the regular traditional herders, we know them. They work with cows, herding with sticks,” Alia said.
“But these folks [the attackers] are coming in fully armed with AK-47s and 49s. They do not bear the Nigerian look. They don’t speak like we do. Even the Hausa they speak is one sort of Hausa.”
The governor further disclosed that intelligence from locals suggests the attackers may be foreign nationals.
“It’s not the normal Hausa we Nigerians speak. So it is with the Fulani they speak. There is a trend in the language they speak, and some of our people who understand what they speak give it names. They say they are Malians and different from our people. But they are not Nigerians—believe it,” he added.
A Chanese adage says: “Move forward you die; stay at a place you die; go back you die. Why not move forward and die; it is better.”
Alia, as a Catholic, you know the truth; but unlike them, you are afraid to say it.
How did you come to the conclusion that the killers are foreigners when none was arrested? When the herders attack communities, do they do so carrying their cattle?
I think the most important thing for Governor Alia is to keep mute till the official report on the incident comes out. The governor, with his speeches, have now compounded the job of the security experts investigathing the trend.
But, truth be told that Alia knows the history of the herders-farmers’ clashes. Or is he afraid to say that the attackers are Fulani?
The governor is afraid to identify fully with his people in time of need unlike the Plateau State governor who gave reference to a prolonged land issue between the natives and the Fulani herders.
Alia’s attitude also manifested in his inability to stamp his authority on the rehabilitation of Apar Aku Stadium, which has forced Lobi Stars FC to be playing their football matches in borrowed stadia.
Alia, the earlier you identify with your people in the period of crisis the better for you. They are the people that will give you the second term in office not party loyalty.
Rigging election may not be the vogue in 2027; but your performance. Build bridges across the political divide; no one knows tomorrow.
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