Benue State Governor, Hyacinth Alia, has revealed that President Bola Tinubu recently held a meeting with him and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume, to explore peaceful solutions to the ongoing killings in the state.
Alia disclosed this during an interview on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief on Monday.
The governor said Tinubu convened the meeting to help bring an end to the violence in Benue.
“President Tinubu is not wrong to ask us to find common ground for peace.
He invited the SGF and me because of what he was hearing from the public. He wanted to know if there was any issue between us,” Alia explained.
He clarified that there is no rift between him and Akume, who is a former governor of the state
And if there were any before, going forward, there will be no problems at all. Our traditional rulers can sleep peacefully,” he added.
Alia blamed external forces for fuelling the violence, stating, “We have a complex situation that is being sponsored and controlled from somewhere. We can handle the internal local government issues, but the real problem is with outsiders coming in armed with AK-47 and AK-49 rifles.”
He also dismissed claims that the Federal Government has not supported the state.
“If President Tinubu didn’t understand what was happening, he wouldn’t be giving us full support.
“Out of 23 local governments, 17 were under siege. We reduced it to nine, then six, and now just three. That progress was possible because of the support from the Federal Government,” he said.