Former All Progressives Congress (APC) Benue South senatorial candidate Comrade Daniel Onjeh has urged residents and indigenes to unite against rising insecurity and support Governor Hyacinth Alia’s administration.
Emphasizing that insecurity thrives in division, Onjeh urged the people of Benue, especially the Idomas, to remain steadfast in their support for the Alia administration.
In a statement at the weekend, Onjeh expressed deep concern over the recent escalation of violent crimes, including kidnappings and killings, across Benue communities.
He described the attacks as well-coordinated operations involving both external criminal elements and local collaborators.
Onjeh, a former Chairman of the Governing Board of the Project Development Institute (PRODA) Enugu, cited what he described as the disturbing evidence of collusion between marauding herdsmen and unscrupulous elements within Benue communities.
“The testimony of a recent kidnapping victim reveals the chilling reality: ‘his abductors were a mix of Fulani herdsmen and Idoma youths who brazenly seized him from his home in front of his family,” he stated.
The APC stalwart pointed to the brutal murder of retired Immigration Comptroller Akatu Onche in Otukpo as particularly troubling.
“This respected community leader was killed shortly after courageously urging his people to defend themselves against insecurity. We must ask: why was he specifically targeted? Who betrayed him?” he questioned, suggesting the likelihood of informants within communities working with networks of criminal herdsmen.
He lamented the fact that despite the Idoma people accommodating herdsmen in their communities for decades, the herdsmen perpetrate heinous crimes against their kind host.
“We least expect this from them,” he stated. “It’s akin to welcoming a guest, providing shelter, and having them betray your hospitality by setting your house ablaze,” he stated.
He cautioned the people of Benue State not to rush to hasty conclusions and apportion blame without thoroughly studying the nature and dimensions of the security situation in the state.
“The issue is multidimensional and multifaceted. Though each community affected by this menace across the nation has its own peculiarities, there is a general trend. Some weeks ago in Manchok (Kaura LGA of Kaduna), two young men were arrested for conspiring with bandits to kidnap their kinsmen, a crime they confessed they committed. These collaborators and informants abound in many communities across the country. It happens in Benue as well,” Onjeh stated.
He warned against pointing the searchlight on only criminal herdsmen and allowing their local collaborators to remain in the anonymity of darkness.
Doing so, he warned, would embolden these miscreants to continue terrorizing their communities without fear of retribution.
“If full attention is given to local collaborators and efforts made to fish them out of the community, they will know society is aware of their treachery. This knowledge, and the fear that they will not be spared when they are caught, will drive them into retracing their steps, amending their evil ways, and becoming law-abiding members of their communities,” Onjeh said.
Further dissecting insecurity in Benue State, especially in Idoma land, Onjeh stated: “Now that these herdsmen know they can be easily identified when they mix with the community, it appears they have resorted to attacking through proxies. The pervasive poverty in the land enables them to easily entice local miscreants into becoming their informants for the promise of a cut of the ransom they would extort from the families of the people they kidnap.”
He urged the Idoma nation to rise up and speak against the evil that has befallen its land, warning that failure to do so could cause the fall of Otukpo, the sociopolitical nerve centre of Idoma land, which is currently targeted by criminal kidnappers.
He applauded Governor Alia’s tireless, behind-the-scenes work with federal security agencies and other stakeholders to dismantle criminal networks in the state, including marauding herdsmen and their local collaborators.
Onjeh, an advocate for good governance and an opinion leader who has consistently championed security and development issues in his state, urged Benue residents to enhance community vigilance, stating “Security begins with us. We must establish robust neighbourhood watch systems and promptly report suspicious activities.”
He implored the people of Benue to reject divisive politics. He also called all residents of Benue State to support the efforts of the Alia administration to bring peace and development to the state.
“Governor Alia needs the people’s backing to implement comprehensive security solutions. This is not the time for destructive criticism and ill-informed street protests that do more harm than good,” he said.
