The Chairman of Senate Committee on Army, George Akume, has accused the Benue State Government of being behind the incessant killings in the state in a good part of this year.
He made the allegation on Friday shortly after he led a delegation of members of the All Progressives Congress, APC, from Benue State, to President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Akume who spoke with State House correspondents said the state government used the livestock guards to perpetrate violence leading to the death of very many.
His words: “When you talk about herdsmen and farmers’ clash, it is a story going good-bye. Have you heard of farmers/herders clashes in Benue again? No.
“We know those who were behind that; government was behind that. I am talking about the state government, through the livestock guards. They knew what was going on. So it is now a thing of the past.
“Everything that is going there is fraudulent in Benue State and the people are simply tired on this misinformation that they have been receiving. The narrative has changed; it is not question of herdsmen, we are not talking about religious and ethnic bigotry, we are talking about performance of government.”
It would be recalled that hundreds of lives were lost in Benue State owing to persistent attacks on villages by suspected herdsmen.
In just one attack on January 1, 2018, no fewer than 75 people were killed.
They were given a mass burial shortly after.
The camp of Internally Displaced Persons swelled.
The situation was alarming that the federal government increased the security personnel in the state to stem the tide.
