Nigerian Concord Newspaper
President Bola Tinubu yesterday ruled out the declaration of a State of Emergency in Benue State as a solution to the ongoing massacres in some local government areas of the State by some armed Fulani bandits.
The president who spoke for close to thirty minutes yesterday during a Town Hall Meeting where he addressed the people of the State that are mourning the killings of over two hundred people by armed bandits in Yelewata area of Guma local government shunned the idea of an Emergency Rule but called on Governor Hyacinth Alia to set up a Committee of past governors of the State and some traditional rulers to brainstorm on how to resolve the security issues in the state.
In his words, President Bola Tinubu who was expected to mull the idea of a State of Emergency during his speech at the meeting which held at the New Banquet Hall at the Government House in Makurdi however called on the Inspector-General of Police to ensure a quick arrest of the perpetrators.
Speaking earlier, the Paramount ruler of the Tiv land, HRM Professor James Ayatse yesterday confirmed that there were plots by some politicians from Benue state to have the Federal Government declare an Emergency Rule in the state.
Recall that there had been series of reports indicating that some Abuja-based Benue politicians were fueling insecurity in Benue state for them to have a basis to call on President Bola Tinubu to declare a State of Emergency in the state just as it was done in Rivers State.
But Speaking at the town hall meeting, Professor James Ayatse clearly told the president that many politicians in the state are happy that the genocides didn’t stop so that they can use it as a reason to push for a State of Emergency in Benue.
His words: “Politicians in the state are busy politicizing the crisis, passing blames instead of joining hands to address the crisis. We hear there are some politicians who will even prefer that the crisis should worsen so that it would be a basis for declaration for a state of emergency in Benue State.”
The revered monarch however said that an Emergency Rule isn’t the solution but a relative peace which he begged President Bola Tinubu to give the people of Benue State. “Mr. President, Benue people want peace so give us peace” he noted.
The Tor Tiv condemned those who referred to the killings as a mere communal crisis, stressing that it’s not a reprisal attack, communal clash of farmers/herders clash but a pure terrorism by some armed Fulani bandits.