Benue: There’s Evidence Some Military Personnel Are Complicit In The Killings — Gbillah 

By Chibuike Chukwu  

MaTaZ ArIsInG
Dallas, Texas

Hon. Mark Gbillah is the former House of Reps member for Gwer East/Gwer West Federal Constituency of Benue State. In this interview, he speaks on the verbal war between Governor Hyacinth Alia and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), George Akume over the escalating deaths in the state. He also alleges that some security agents are complicit in the killings, stressing that under penal and criminal codes, the people have the right to self defence. CHIBUIKE CHUKWU brings the excerpts: 

 What is your reaction to the governor’s stance on having the list of people allegedly sponsoring the killings in Benue amidst his war of words with the SGF? 

Now, let me say that the onus is on who accuses to prove. So I know the controversy about this and I believe the handlers of the governor and maybe it was out of his passion to try to express himself about the information he obtained. Otherwise, the time the governor chose to mention the issue, in my own opinion, was not the right time to have done so. He was asked about his feud with the SGF. I don’t know if you have watched the interview and that is when he chose to talk about the report and the lack of comments by the SGF regarding the killing of the people and how there’s a report that has provided some evidence. So let’s give him that benefit of the doubt. He’s the chief security officer. He probably has some intelligence reports that we’re not privy to or aware of. But we’re placing a demand now on our governor to provide our people and the country with irrefutable evidence of those people that he said are sponsors since he already has the information. Let it not be like in the Buhari administration, if you remember, there were some people who were identified as being sponsors of terrorism. And I’ll still allude to the fact that even the situation in our state is premeditated and there are sponsors of that, I would admit to that. But categorically saying its Abuja politicians and members of the National Assembly requires the burden of proof to be on the governor to provide that evidence. I personally won’t want to believe that my colleagues in the National Assembly would be sponsoring the killing of their people. But like I said, I won’t hold brief for anybody. So I think it’s the governor’s responsibility to prove it. And he himself in that interview admitted that there was some sort of disagreement between him and the SGF, not my words, his own words. So I want to also appeal to the governor, appeal to the SGF that they shouldn’t allow their own personal squabbles to affect the security and the lives of our people. It might be that the governor is being distracted by this political battle that he is not being able to focus adequately on the issue that is causing my people not to sleep any longer, to not be able to farm and cater for themselves. So these are very serious issues that shouldn’t degenerate on the altar of political differences. 

You said it shouldn’t be about political interests, but it seems it is already. Don’t you think this is all about 2027? And ahead of that, where do we draw the line between politics and lives of the people of Benue State? 

Precisely. As I speak here now, my heart bleeds. We’re mourning in my community in Benue State. And I would like to let Mr. President, the international community, and the rest of the world know that we’re in mourning. We’re under siege, we’re facing an existential threat, and we’re, in our own opinion, at war. So, this is not the time for political break backs. This is the time, and I want to also appeal to my governor and the SGF, this is the time to stand united together. I don’t believe that it’s just about 2027. If you also listen to the governor, he correctly, even though it’s not an excuse, pointed out to the fact that these issues have lingered for some years, even before he assumed office. So, there’s a calculated attempt, which again, the governor alluded to, by some quarters. And if you remember, there was an interview a notorious Gana granted to Charles Erukaa on Channel TV, where he said some people actually tried to pay him to champion the attack of certain states. He named them Benue, Plateau, Taraba, Nasarawa, and some areas. I’m sure you probably remember that. So that means there’s a calculated attempt to attack and conquer and occupy our land, because that is what we see now. They come, they attack, occupy our communities and drive our people out, even into IDP camps. So it’s beyond 2027. Yes, obviously, for some people, they take the opportunity, which is their right to freedom of expression, to also complain about what is going on, because some of us also have waited in the last two years to give President Bola Tinubu, to give the governor a chance, to give those who were declared as representatives of their people a chance. But two years later, we cannot keep quiet anymore. We cannot watch as our people get killed daily. We have to speak out and champion their cause and point out the fact that nothing is being done to tackle this issue. And I believe that it’s important we look at what the solutions are. There are solutions we believe are important to put in place. In my community, we in Benue, think our lives are worth it. Why is Mr. President not able to come and visit us? I make bold to say that even in the course of the Niger Delta crisis, not as many people have been killed as have been killed in our constituency. 

There have been back and forth blames between the governor and the SGF. The governor is the chief security officer of the state. I mean the SGF is at the centre. What is his role in all of these? 

I believe, without holding brief again for the governor, his concern is that the SGF is the highest placed political office holder from Benue State. He’s in the executive council of the government, and it’s expected that he’ll be concerned about the plight of the people and the state. Now, in his response, the SGF, through his press person, mentioned the fact that he had been taking some actions under the radar to intervene, which shows that he also understands the importance of him doing something about it. My own personal opinion, I think that we too would want to hear from him, the SGF. We too would want to see the efforts that he’s also making because he has the ear of Mr. President, that is what we believe, and he can point out to him what is going on. I want to appeal to Mr. President because there seems to be too much sycophancy in the country at the moment. If he wants to know the fact about what is going on in our communities, we’re here to tell him. He needs to speak to us, that’s why I’m calling on him to visit. The Chief of Army Staff came, the NSA came, we appreciate that, but for your information, they came and they stayed in the state capital. 

But the Chief of Army Staff reportedly relocated to Benue 

Well, for your information, he didn’t relocate. Relocation means he moved some bags and some baggage to stay for a number of days, which is what we expected because it’s different when you physically visit those locations. We thought that as a seasoned military general, he would go and see how his troops are faring, the conditions under which they’re operating. I’m saying that because I have heard the complaints about the lack of so many things. He didn’t relocate. He just visited that day. While we appreciate the visit of the Chief of Army Staff and the NSA, while we appreciate the fact that they went to the state capital to meet with the governor and our esteemed leaders, the Tor Tiv, the Ochi’idoma, and the other traditional rulers, we believe that there should have been the effort to go to the location. It’s different. I have been there. I recently had to bury my parents and I know the contingent of armed personnel and vehicles that we had to take to go to my village because of the attacks that we’re prone to every day. So we expect more, not just a visit to the state capital, but a visit to those locations to ascertain what is going on. Remember, the primary role of government is the security and the welfare of the people. So we’re calling on the president, if we have 15 trillion to invest on Lagos-Calabar, the coastal highway, I wonder why it’s not considered to be a priority to ensure that our people are not being killed. To some of us, we consider it not to be the priority for the investment of that amount of money. While they’re commissioning 30 kilometers, about 5% of the project or so, our people are being killed. 

You said the Chief of Armed Staff’s relocation is not exactly a relocation in the real sense of it, but we do hear reports that since he has touched down on Benue State, there has been an appreciable military presence around there. I mean, the fact that they know that he’s got his searchlight beamed on that area is beginning to generate a little bit more movement in terms of security personnel. 

One of the issues we have always had is the fact that we believe some of the military personnel who come to our communities are complicit in the killing of the people. The people have provided us sometimes with irrefutable evidence of seeing military personnel present at locations, and the people being the ones who have been attacked by the military for trying to defend themselves. So it’s important that the Chief of Armed Staff replace all the officers and the personnel that are there now. It’s important, which is part of the solutions that we believe should be in place as an immediate intervention, that a proper military formation be placed in these locations. Not just across my local government, across the state, other states and Plateau. These are things; in the rules of engagement of the military, are very imperative and it’s seen in the military who have done tremendously in Liberia and other locations. You can see that even in the U.S., when they want to intervene in the Gulf area or somewhere they have a camp, they look for a country to locate themselves in close proximity. So I wonder why our military practitioners don’t realise it is time to deploy that kind of a camp and a formation to that location to provide that intervention. So we’re happy that they’re seemingly providing more people, but the question to ask is, is it just to provide the people who stay in one location? Are they not able to go after these people? That is the question. Don’t we have the equipment? That’s why I complained about 15 trillion naira for a coastal road when the people are being killed. Can’t we invest in modern equipment? There are drones, even a payload carrying drones. There are equipment that can be deployed to pursue these people. I can tell you for free right now, in Loko, a bordering town between my village and Nasarawa Local Government, is where these people come in from. Is my governor engaging with his counterpart in Nasarawa State? Why don’t we hear about attacks in Nasarawa State? It’s because they’re very comfortable. That is what it appears like. The herdsmen that come in and kill our people are giving solace. Why we believe that we’re being attacked is because even in Nasarawa State, there has been an allegation and the case is even in court by my people that their lands are being taken by the government. Meanwhile, these herdsmen are occupying land in that area from where they come in to attack our people. Is the military not aware of this? There are allegations that those of a particular ethnicity who are sympathetic to the cause of the herdsmen are looking the other way when they’re coming to attack our people. We want to make it clear that we’re the leaders of our people who have been asking them to exercise restraint. Nigeria shouldn’t forget that we are still the land of warriors, the people who stopped the jihad from entering the other parts of the country, the people who stopped the civil war, we haven’t forgotten that. Should we make our land ungovernable like the Niger Delta before the president will pay attention? We’re capable of doing that. 

In the North East and the North West, we hear that the security agencies are going after targets they have already identified. They’re deliberate targets and they are doing that. Is that possible with what is happening in Benue State? 

It’s very possible. I’m sure you have heard instances where people have been kidnapped and the security operatives quickly sweep in, identify and apprehend these people. There is such movement of the magnitude that occurs when they come and they attack our people. Sometimes they come with motorbikes. Sometimes they are on foot. But with the exchange of gunfire and the movement of those people, that is why we are wondering whether there is complicity in this whole attack on our people. We believe that our armed forces should have the equipment to be able to track, not be reactive but be proactive. Like I said, there are areas where if Mr. President gives us the opportunity, we will show them where our people have tracked where they are. Is the military unaware of this? A reverend father was killed in front of a military checkpoint on the way to Naka in Gwer Local Government Area. This is how bad the situation is. So you start to wonder, are they all sitting in one place? This is the challenge we have and that is why there is a clarion call for self-defense. I want to appeal to the National Assembly, to Mr. President, to realise these are the kind of things you are seeking constitutional review about. Our criminal and penal code of course provides for that at the moment and it makes clear that you are allowed to use proportionate force. So if your enemies are coming with AK-47, you will respond with AK-47. That is what the penal code provides at the moment. So we are raising this notice to those who think they can kill us. We have a right to defend ourselves. The time has come now to rise up. Enough is enough. We have kept quiet for too long and we believe that we are being taken for granted. So it’s important that there are strategies even Mr. President can put in place. If Tantita can be given the opportunity to secure pipelines, I guess the pipelines are more important than our lives. We too have the capacity to be the Tantita in our regions. 

Let’s look at the internal displacement of people. I know that between 2021, they had over 650,000, now, we have over 1.5 million people in 2022 alone. I mean isn’t that a danger in itself ? What is the government doing because when you speak to people even in the IDP camp, they’re still not safe, they still don’t feel protected. 

While we appreciate the efforts of the state government in providing some level of support to those who are in IDP camps, it is important to point out that in our culture, most of the people who are affected don’t want to go to an IDP camp. They sort of find their way within the community with their relatives and friends. So there are a lot of them who are in that situation. And even those who are in IDP camps are still complaining about the lack of intervention, the lack of facilities for them and this is where we still call upon the Federal Government because they still have a lot more resources to be able to use to intervene in the situation. NEMA has done some interventions, I hear the UN has done some intervention but this is one-off. If you remember, at some point, the Federal Government was providing monthly intervention to the IDPs in Borno State. That is the kind of intervention that we desire and demand. And if you remember, the previous administration promised 10 billion naira intervention for IDPs for their well-being and resettlement. We have not heard about that amount. We had hoped that President Tinubu, when he comes into power, would implement that intervention or would at least investigate the whereabouts of those funds. And as I speak to date, nobody knows where that 10 billion naira is.

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