Benue Government Finally Exposes Terrorists Attacking Communities
Hyacinth Alia, Benue State Governor, has stated that the criminals attacking Benue do not resemble Nigerians, claim to come from Mali, and are usually armed with AK-47 rifles.

According to him, the groups speak unfamiliar languages and exhibit foreign characteristics.

Governor Alia made these remarks on Tuesday while appearing as a guest on Politics Today, a programme on Channels Television.

His comments come amid a series of violent assaults across the North-Central state, which have left dozens dead and many displaced.

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

“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,” he added.

“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,” the governor 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 way these killings are being planned and carried out is definitely coordinated,” he noted. “Some local government areas in Benue share borders with Cameroon, and those borders are quite porous.”

The governor also said intelligence reports indicate the existence of terrorist hideouts in parts of Taraba and Nasarawa states, as well as in regions bordering Cameroon.

“The terrorists have their havens in Taraba, Nasarawa, and in border regions of Cameroon,” Alia stated.

Earlier on April 18, SaharaReporters reported that the Benue State Police Command confirmed the killing of 17 individuals in the Logo and Ukum local government areas of the state.

According to a statement by the Benue Command spokesperson, Catherine Anene, an armed group stormed the Sankera axis on Thursday evening, unleashing violence on the Gbagir area of Ukum and Katsina-Ala in Logo.

“On 17/4/2025 at about 2100hrs, information was received that a large number of suspected militia had invaded the Sankera axis of Benue State with the intention to attack communities around Gbagir, Ukum Local Government Area,” the statement read in part.

The police also noted that, following an order by the Commissioner of Police, CP Steve H. Yabanet, tactical teams were deployed to collaborate with others already on the ground.

“Following this order, a team of officers moved to the area and engaged them. While the attackers were being repelled in the early hours of today, they shot sporadically at unsuspecting farmers as they came across them,” she explained.

“Unfortunately, an unsuspected simultaneous attack was carried out in Logo, where twelve (12) persons were killed before the arrival of the police, making a total of seventeen persons,” the statement added, noting that the total includes five individuals from Gbagir who later died in the hospital.

“The Commissioner of Police, Hassan Yabanet, has warned social media users to desist from reporting unconfirmed information that is capable of inciting the general public and creating unnecessary tension in the state,” Anene said.

“The CP is committed to fighting the attackers and encouraged the people of Sankera to continue to cooperate with the police as the operation is ongoing,” the statement further read.

Benue State has been at the centre of persistent killings, with residents continuously calling for government intervention to end the unrelenting violence, often blamed on armed herdsmen.

SBM Intelligence reports that 300,000 persons have been displaced due to conflicts in Benue State.