Insecurity is a prevalent challenge facing Nigeria as a nation. A serious cankerworm that if not collectively dealt with, will end up consuming Nigeria.
In Benue State, the insecurity is extremely complex as a result of so many factors playing out: Fulani herdsmen attacks, communal crises, political differences and interests engineering crises, indigenes collaborating and fraternizing with the enemies of the State to cause mayhem and security agents compromising operations.
If Benue State government under the Executive Governor, Rev. Fr. Dr. Hyacinth Iormem Alia is fighting Fulani herdsmen attacks, others will be creating communal crises, if it starts fighting against communal crises, some politicians with political differences and interests will start using their radical supporters loyal to them to engineer crisis, if it starts fighting such people, some indigenes on the other hand will be collaborating and fraternizing with enemies of Benue State to cause mayhem for financial gains.
When I was in Jos, Plateau State from 2010 to 2016, the 6 years I spent in Plateau State made me to have a first hand and indept understanding of how various interests from religion to politics can create insecurity that will overwhelm the state government and make it look handicapped even with all the resources required to fight insecurity.
The circumstances that led to the attack on Dogo Nahawa village near Jos on 7th March, 2010 by Fulani herdsmen that killed over 500 people were associated with religion, politics and ethnicity. Those killed were mostly Berom, the ethic group of Jonah Jang who was the governor of Plateau State. Late Umaru Musa Yar'Adua was the president at that time.
Plateau State has about 40 ethnic groups and most of them felt marginalized and were not bothered about the insecurity in Plateau State since the attacks were affecting mostly the two dominant ethnic groups in Plateau State: Berom and Ngas. Some of these groups were fraternizing with Fulani herdsmen to cause insecurity to discredit the administration of Jonah Jang.
When the All Progressives Congress (APC) was formed in February 2013, some members of the party in Plateau State were adamant about the insecurity in the state. In some private interactions with some of them, they prayed for the insecurity to continue so that Jonah Jang's Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will be dislodged in 2015 general election using insecurity.
Insecurity continued in a different dimension when Jonah Jang brought his Berom brother Sen. Gyan Nyam Shom Pwajok (late) as the gubernatorial candidate of PDP.
As soon as Pwajok emerged the flag bearer, the insecurity in Plateau State intensified on a three-dimensional front: religion involving Muslims and Christians; Politics involving APC and PDP, ethnicity involving Berom and other ethnic groups.
Today, Jonah Jang is no more the governor and Pwajok is late but the insecurity in Jos is getting worse everyday and Plateau State has become a theatre of blood.
This is the same situation happening in Benue State. As a result of the hatred some politicians and Benue indigenes have on Alia, they want insecurity to be at its peak so that Alia would be discredited and his reelection would be in jeopardy not caring about the numerous lives lost and other irreversible damage caused.
They should know that Alia will not be governor forever just like every former governor who came and left, but the insecurity created by those who hated them still breeds in Benue State.
As these groups of people continue to play politics with insecurity claiming innocent lives and destroying property worth billions, they should also understand that Benue is sitting on a keg of gunpowder as a result of their actions. By the time it explodes, it will consume us all.
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