WHY GOVERNOR ALIA SHOULDN’T BE VOTED FOR A SECOND TERM IN OFFICE
BY
“TORTO BEMDOO JEFFREY”
In the heart of Benue, the land of rich culture and enduring resilience, our people are crying. Their cries echo through the valleys of Gwer West, through the blood-soaked fields of Naka, and across every local government touched by the cold hands of violence. Last night, Naka, my own home, witnessed yet another tragic chapter in this seemingly endless nightmare. Fulani herdsmen struck again, killing innocent men, women, and children. These were not criminals or combatants, just farmers, just villagers, just our people.
And where was our Governor?
We are not asking for magic. We are not expecting him to perform miracles. But we are begging for action. We are pleading for a voice loud enough to shake the conscience of this nation. Yet all we receive is silence or, worse, hollow words that carry no weight.
When Governor Hyacinth Alia took office, he was received with great hope. A priest turned politician, many believed he would lead with conscience, compassion, and courage. But today, that hope is slowly fading into sorrow. The once fiery voices of his campaign now seem to have been swallowed by the politics of convenience. As our people fall, our farmlands burn, and our homes become graves, the government appears passive, absent in the hour of our greatest need.
It is not just a failure of governance. It is a failure of humanity.
Benue is bleeding. The Tiv, Idoma, and other ethnic groups of this state are under siege, not by an invading army from abroad, but by armed herders who have made rural life unbearable. The pattern is frightening: villages attacked in the dead of night, entire families wiped out, and yet, no lasting or visible strategy has been enacted by the Alia-led administration to end these killings.
What did the people of Naka do to deserve this kind of neglect? Must we always bury our own before something is done? Or is Naka too far, too rural, too politically unimportant to warrant urgency from the government? The people of Gwer West have been abandoned. Their screams are now prayers whispered through tears.
Governor Alia must be reminded that leadership is not about title or pulpit, it is about protecting lives, about standing with your people when danger knocks. Leadership is about fighting with every ounce of strength to ensure that the children of Benue sleep without fear of being slaughtered in the night.
We do not write this in anger. We write in pain.
We are not enemies of the state. We are the soul of the state, the farmers, the traders, the students, the elders, the people who bleed when policies fail. And this policy of silence and inaction is costing lives.
If Governor Alia cannot protect us, if he cannot stand firm against those who kill us, if he cannot raise his voice even as our mothers are widowed and our children orphaned, then he has no moral right to ask for our votes again.
Benue does not need another term of mourning. Benue needs safety, justice, and dignity. We need a governor who will weep with us, fight for us, and stand between us and the bullets.
For now, that leader is not Governor Alia.
Unless a radical change occurs, unless he wakes up to the reality of our suffering, he must not be returned to power. Not because we hate him. But because we love Benue too much to watch it die slowly under weak leadership.
We call on all lovers of justice, all sons and daughters of the soil, to rise in unity, not with violence, but with our voices, our votes, and our prayers. Let us say: No more blood in Benue. No more silence from Makurdi.
©️ TORTO BEMDOO JEFFREY SAID