The President of Mdzough U Tiv United Kingdom (MUTUK), Mr. Victor Bemdoo Aleva, has expressed reservations that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s (PBAT) visit to Benue State will end killings by armed herdsmen in Nigeria’s Food Basket State.
Mr. Aleva, who made this known on Sunrise Daily, a Channels Television programme, noted that the president’s visit is akin to the reactionary approach to insecurity taken by security agencies, who visit scenes only after attacks have happened.
“All these things you see people peddle around are not going to work. So I have no hope,” he said, noting that it had happened in the past, after former President Muhammadu Buhari’s visit.
“Our security agencies always go there when something has happened. What are you securing? How many of these persons have been brought to book by the Federal Government?” he went on.
He sees the visit as a characteristic of politicians who take advantage of every opportunity to gain a political advantage.
“Politicians will always seize opportunities for political reasons,” he said, arguing, “We actually have to go to the root cause; the problem.”
According to Mr. Aleva, what is happening in Benue State “is a deliberate attempt, calculated hatred for the past century to come and take revenge on our people (for resisting Jihad).”
Mr. Aleva blamed the Federal Government of Nigeria for failing to secure Nigerian borders and control the movement of arms, but he said the President should be given the benefit of the doubt on his visit.
Commenting on the suggestion by the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Christopher Musa, to train young people in troubled areas to help secure their communities, Mr. Aleva said he was not optimistic but hoped that the approach would work.
He explained that the Benue community in the diaspora is losing confidence in Nigeria.
“We in the diaspora have had enough. We are going to stand up for our people. We will speak for our people to the world – UK, US, and Russia,” he vowed.
By the way, he said the attack on Benue State, Nigeria’s Food Basket State, is an attack on food security.
“This is the food basket of the nation. We should stop playing to the gallery, Mr. Aleva warned.
He, therefore, called on the President to put an end to the killings in the state.
“We want the Federal Government to put an end to killings in Benue State, and we want our Governor to collaborate with the President to achieve that,” he said.
To end the attacks, he suggested that everybody should stay in their domain.
