‘They don’t speak like us’ — Alia says killers of Benue residents are foreigners

Hyacinth Alia, governor of Benue, says foreign elements speaking unfamiliar languages are behind the recent killings across the state.

The governor made the claim on Tuesday during an interview on Politics Today, a programme aired on Channels Television.

There has been an uptick in attacks across the country in recent times, especially in Benue and Plateau states.

On April 16, many residents were killed when gunmen invaded Otobi-Akpa and Emichi in Otukpo LGA, and Utonkon in Ado LGA of Benue.

Earlier this month, residents of Otukpo in Benue south district staged a protest against the incessant cases of kidnappings and killings.

The demonstration saw protesters, mostly youths, occupy the Otukpo-Enugu federal highway while calling on the government to address the growing insecurity in the state.

Speaking on the incessant killings in Benue, Alia said residents have reported that the attackers speak dialects not associated with local communities and are believed to be foreigners.

When asked about the identity of the attackers, the governor said it was important to clarify the threat before making conclusions.

“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,” Alia said.

“Even the regular traditional herders, we know them. They work with cows, herding them with sticks.

“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.

“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.”

Alia said the state is facing a more dangerous threat than the traditional clashes with herders previously seen in the region.

“This is the second phase we are seeing. The initial ones were with the traditional herders. The traditional herders—we had fewer troubles with them. What we are experiencing has a new, different, strange face, and it’s now alarming,” he said.

“These terrorists are everywhere. We are under a siege. These people just come and hit and kill and run back. Where are they running to?”

The Benue governor said the attacks appear methodically carried out and are not random acts of violence.

“The way these killings are being planned and carried out is definitely coordinated; some local government areas in Benue share borders with Cameroon, and those borders are quite porous,” he said.

Alia added that intelligence gathered points to the existence of terrorist enclaves in Taraba and Nasarawa states, as well as in neighbouring parts of Cameroon.