There is no religious genocide in Benue, says Alia

Hyacinth Alia, governor of Benue, says there is no religious genocide in his state.

Benue, alongside Plateau, have been considered hotbeds of an alleged Christian genocide in Nigeria, a claim largely peddled by foreign lawmakers, international media outlets, and local secessionist groups.

The narrative informed US President Donald Trump’s decision to re-designate Nigeria as a “country of particular concern”.

During a consultative forum on the protection of the rights of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and forcibly displaced persons (FDPs) organised by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in Abuja, Alia dismissed the claims.

The governor, who was a Catholic priest, based his stance on his Christian roots.

“I am a reverend father. So being in governance does not take that away from me. I am still a reverend father,” he said.

“As a reverend father, I am working with the fear of God and the compassion of Christianity and humanity. And at the end of the day, I’m still going back to the church as a reverend father and a good Christian.

“So that is for the record, we need to understand this.

“In my state of Benue, we don’t have any religious, any ethnic, any racial, any national or state genocide. We don’t have that.

“Do we have a number of insecurities in the state? Yes, we do. But it is not a genocide. Someone would need to check the United Nations definitions for this.

“Have we lost a number of people? Yes, we have at different stages. If I’m giving you a background of the challenges we’ve had many years ago, we’re talking about the agro pastoralists, the herders; and then we’re talking about the agro farmers, typical farmers.

“So it began like play, like joke, and then it went over and then just continued to some huge proportions.

“But that does not fit into the parameters of a genocide. So for those who seek to politicise everything, there is no genocide in Benue state, but we have security challenges in Benue.”

Alia said he had visited the US embassy in Nigeria to explain the issues regarding insecurity in his state.

“So, it’s on the record that I had an interface with the American ambassador to let him know that both in Nigeria, particularly in Benue state, there is no genocide, unless it’s my description,” he added.

“And the United Nations description of a genocide does not fit within the parameters.”