From Healing Mass to Mass Burial: A Dilemma of Alia’s Political Treachery
#BenueLivesMatter
By Morgan Adikwu
Governor Hyacinth Alia’s rise to power was ushered in by prayers and promises — a symbolic healing mass that painted him as a divine remedy to Benue’s deep wounds. But two years on, that sacred image lies in ruins. What began as hope has unravelled into horror. From healing mass to mass burial, the people of Benue are now engulfed in a nightmare they never voted for — an unending bloodbath.
The veil has lifted. And now, the lies must be told for what they are.
Alia presented himself as a healer — a remedy to corruption, insecurity, and division. But the deepening bloodbath across Benue’s local governments — Agatu, Makurdi, Gwer East, Ukum, Kwande, Apa, Otukpo, Oju etc— betrays a man more aligned with extermination than salvation. Instead of halting violence, his administration echoes silence and complicity.
What has been unsaid often reveals more than grand speeches. Governor Alia’s alleged refusal to allocate needed logistics to security forces, his inaccessibility during critical intelligence briefings, and his deliberate neglect of policing formations aren’t mere lapses — they are strategic silences. These omissions — in places like Edikwu, Akpete, Tse-Uhembe, Yelwata — have cost hundreds of lives. It is these voids in action that scream the loudest as narrated.
His pacts with Benue people — that he would secure our farms, feed our people, end open grazing — have collapsed. The peace accord he allegedly directed to brokered with armed herdsmen did not herald peace; it emboldened genocide. His campaign-time assurances have metamorphosed into broken promises and unmarked graves.
Beneath the governor’s soft-spoken veneer lies an unholy alliance. His cozy ties with Fulani oligarchs and handlers of herder militias have been exposed through his repeated deflections. He hides behind ECOWAS protocols — conveniently citing free movement across West African states — while ignoring global conventions that prohibit mass killings, ethnic cleansing, and genocidal campaigns. His selectivity reveals where his loyalty lies — and it is surely not with Benue.
Late General Sani Abacha once said that if insurgency lasts more than 24 hours, the government has a hand in it. What we see in Benue — with well-funded, strategic assaults by herdsmen going unchecked for two years — lends weight to that warning. Security agencies remain under-resourced, disillusioned not supported in the State despite the huge security vote.
The military base in Odugbo and the Mobile Police Unit 80 stood idly by as Ankpali village burned. Reports of military units allegedly receiving food and support from Fulani sympathizers have gone uninvestigated. Alia’s failure to equip, mobilize, or even demand response from these formations is not just negligence — it’s betrayal.
Consequently, Benue youths took to the streets — not in violence, but in grief — to protest the ongoing slaughter. Their reward? Bullets. Governor Alia allegedly ordered security to shoot at protesters. The message is clear: speak up and bleed. This is not democracy; it is tyranny dressed in cassock. Instead of using his office to lead mourning, Alia has chosen to lead suppression. It is clear now — the governor is not just silent on the killings. He is complicit, activist in the State declared.
If the state cannot protect its citizens, it must empower them to protect themselves. Prominent sons and daughters of Benue must now rise. In the absence of government will, communities must be resourced — with intelligence networks, logistics, local vigilantes, and moral support — to defend their own. If soldiers only fight for food and allowances, then let the people feed them, and reclaim their safety. We cannot continue to bury our dead and still depend on the same failed arms that let them die.
Governor Alia’s narrative has been dismantled:
From healer to executioner,
From reformist to enabler,
From defender of peace to midwife of genocide.
He has betrayed every trust placed in him by the Benue people. He has spoken with two tongues — calling the killers foreigners one day, ECOWAS citizens the next, and accusing Benue’s National Assembly members of funding violence without a shred of proof. The deadline he gave to name names has passed. His silence now is deafening.
As President Tinubu visits Benue, this truth must not be hidden:
The man once called a healing priest now stands accused as an accessory to the agony of his own people.
It is time for real healing. But healing cannot come from those who abandon the wounded.
#BenueLivesMatter
