Thread by @XrisTion

The systematic #Fulaniherdsmen killings in Benue State can be attributed to several reasons;climate change, pacification of the Tivs & forceful occupation of the Benue Trough by the Fulanis etc.But the one cause that's often overlooked is the complicity of the ruling elite.THREAD

HOW SUCCESSIVE BENUE STATE GOVERNMENTS/GOVERNORS
MADE BENUE FARMERS SOFT TARGETS FOR FULANI HERDSMEN.
This is a thread of pain.
Pain of opportunities lost.
Pain of a harvest of blood.
@DrJoeAbah @ayosogunro @Chxta @DemolaRewaju @KSN_online @kengkengati @GovSamuelOrtom

I am Tiv, from Benue State. This clarification needs to be made right at the start so as to put my opinion into a proper perspective. It is not a popular opinion because it indicts the ruling class and its hangers-on

Benue State is blessed with abundant agricultural resources; the land is fertile, the people are hard-working, we produce almost 44% of soyabean in Nigeria, and the highest kilogram per hectare in West Africa

The oranges here are juicy and sweet like no other, yams grow for fun, Benue cassava stems are as big as yam tubers, tomatoes and pepper sprout everywhere. No wonder Benue State is known as “The Food Basket of the Nation”

In spite of these abundant natural resources Benue State remains a very poor state and is in a very poor state. Please if you don’t know the definition of poverty, visit Benue State and interact with her indigenes and you will witness first-hand what it is.

Poverty in Benue State walks around with a swagger. Don’t be deceived by the mostly cosmetic life style of the people you meet in Makurdi the state capital.

Take a drive (if you find a road to drive on) to the rural areas like Naka, Agasha, Utonkon, Oju, Gbajimba etc and you will come face to face with a level of poverty that will astonish you.

Now the question is, why would a state as blessed as Benue remain so poor? The answer is simple; DEARTH of leadership!

Since its creation on 3rd February, 1976, Benue State has had only two MEANINGFUL governors who were also leaders; Aper Aku who was in office from 1979-1983 and to a lesser extent Rev. Moses Adasu 1992-1993, both of blessed memory.

All other governors of Benue State, whether military or civilian (with the exception of Jonah Jang),including the incumbent, have all exhibited a rudderless streak to governance and therefore do not merit being referred to as leaders.

To drive home this point it will interest you to know that most of the key establishments that you find in the state today were initiated or set up by Aper Aku; the Benue State Secretariat, Makurdi Modern Market

The Aper Aku Stadium, Benue Brewery, Benro Packaging, Benue Bottling Company, the Ikyogen Cattle Ranch, etc and the list isn’t even complete. Rev. Moses Adasu set up the Benue State University.

So what of successive governments/governors?

George Akume a man of humble beginnings rode on the crest of the momentous occasion of the return to civilian rule in 1999 to become governor with so much goodwill.

The goodwill was fueled by the joy of doing away with the tribulations the Benue people suffered under the misrule of the military typified by the likes of Group Captain Joshua Obademi. No Benue indigene who experienced Obademi will forget his misrule. It was legendary.

And what was Akume's reward to Benue State? He created a beautiful blueprint tagged Benue Advancement Plan (BAP) but it never took off, it remained just a plan.

All George Akume he did, if you consider these worthy of a governor, in his eight years as governor was hand out money and other government resources to people he liked, commissioning pubs (beer parlours) etc. You can confirm from Benue people or who whoever follows Benue State

It is very heart rendering and embarrassing when you realize that while Akume was doling out our commonwealth his colleague governor from the neighbouring Cross River State, Donald Duke, was mapping out and implementing a strategy to uplift Cross River State

On the other hand, most Benue indigenes especially in the neglected rural areas continued to wallow in penury, disease and ignorance.

What about Gabriel Suswam?

Gabriel Suswam came in with a lot of promise. Surely a young dashing lawyer, with a sophisticated disposition capped with two terms as a House Member would do better than his predecessor we reasoned!

And he started brightly, but after sometime in office and after being deservedly awarded the Thisday Award as Best Governor for Infrastructure, he flipped mode.
Under his watch primary school teachers were owed half a year’s salary and their classrooms closed for a longer period

What would have been his one shining legacy, the Greater Benue Water Works, meant to provide Makurdi and its environs with portable water, remains without reticulation due to poor conceptual strategy on his part.

Suswam like his predecessors neglected developing agriculture where the state enjoys a comparative advantage and instead fretted away the state's resources on personal whims

 like his cohorts at the centre has only regaled Benue with promises. His failure to pay salaries is well documented. It tells the story of his administration.

The foregoing does not begin to capture the misgovernance Benue State has endured, is only a tip of the iceberg.

While Benue indigenes living in the urban areas of the state have had a semblance of a modern life; periodic access to portable water, healthcare and security the same cannot be said of the majority of mostly subsistence farmers in the rural areas.

As you can observe successive governments have not laid any roadmap to developing infrastructure or elevating agricultural systems to a business in Benue State thereby perpetuating hardship, ignorance and misery among the rural dwellers who are mostly farmers

One would have expected that these governments following Aper Aku’s footsteps would invest in agriculture via research to improve yields; processing industries to create employment and market for produce; develop infrastructure to encourage investment

It begs the imagination to find Benue feeder roads in the hinterlands impassable or fruits laying rotten by the roadsides due to lack of preservation and nonexistent market for them.

This lack of foresight by these Benue governments/governors have left the people improvised and reduced the once proud tribes of Tiv and Idoma to beggars who are also susceptible to the allure of sharing their land with the Fulani for money

The Benue rural population improvised and without any economic resources defending themselves against such a modern force as that wrought upon them in the form of the Fulani herdsmen/militia becomes impossible.

The Tiv, Idoma and Igede all have a proud historical heritage as warriors and ordinarily cannot be cowed by anyone. Let us not deceive ourselves, the Federal Government lacks the political will to deal decisively with or confront the Fulani herdsmen/militia.

We the Benue people have been made a laughing stock., killed, raped, displaced at will.

If not, how can one explain the impunity with which the killings in Benue are being carried out? So just like how we get electricity through personal generating sets and water from private boreholes.

When next you learn that a Benue farmer is killed by Fulani herdsmen blame the successive governments who so impoverished the people with their vision-less governance that a once proud and vibrant people are vulnerable and incapable of upholding and defending their dignity. END

Yes defending themselves you heard me right! If these Benue governments had invested in agriculture and the people were "economically empowered" they would have acquired modern weapons to defend themselves & not be at the mercy of the Fulani herdsmen/militia as is the case now

Benue indigenes should gear up and get security through self-help. The Federal Government only gives lip service to the issue of protecting Benue lives; it is not walking the talk. Even the talk is as flat, insensitive and as empty as other promises of this sorry government