Governor Hyacinth Alia of Benue State has raised concerns about the identity of armed men responsible for ongoing deadly attacks in various parts of the state.
Speaking on Tuesday during a televised interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today, Governor Alia said the attackers are not Nigerian citizens but rather foreigners from Mali who speak a different version of Fulani and Hausa languages.
Over the past few years, Benue State has been facing persistent violence believed to be carried out by armed herders. These attacks have caused significant loss of life and displacement in local government areas including Otukpo, Ado, and Logo, among others.
While many had assumed the attackers were local herders, Governor Alia clarified that the language, appearance, and mannerisms of the assailants suggest they are foreign elements. According to him, the language they speak is different from the Fulani and Hausa spoken by native Nigerians.
He said: “We know Nigerians—by our ethnicities, we can identify a Fulani man, a Yoruba man, a Hausa man—we know them.
“Even the regular traditional herders, we know them. They work with cows, herding them with sticks.
“But these folks, the attackers, are coming in fully armed with AK-47s and 49s. They do not bear the Nigerian look. They don’t speak like we do. Even the Hausa they speak is one sort of Hausa.
“It’s not the normal Hausa we Nigerians speak. So it is with the Fulani they speak. There is a trend in the language they speak, and some of our people who understand what they speak give it names.
“They say they are Malians and different from our people. But they are not Nigerians—believe it.”
