13/08/2024
SANKERA INSECURITY: ORTOM AND ALIA NOT GUILTY
... separating politics from reality
It has become pertinent for me to make some clarification regarding sankera insecurity, its consequences on Benue and the origin of this ungodly act.
Before I proceed, I enjoined readers of this piece to read carefully without political mindset, as my analysis is far from political interest and alliance.
The origin of sankera Insecurity may truly be sponsored by political actors as alleged in some of the recent trending videos, however, we mustn't generalize or deviate from the root cause of this disastrous act by shifting blames on some of our leaders who are neither the sponsors nor initiators of the said insecurity.
Unlike the common Benue insecurity which is almost known by everyone to be "Fulani militia invasion" which is suspected to be an agenda to capture Benue because of the green pastures and fertile land by jahad, sankera insecurity has clearly appeared even before the blind that, it's a battle for "who owns and control the land".
To the best of my knowledge, Logo, Ukum and Katsina /ala insecurity began in early 2000 and before then, Chief. Ortom was not priviledged to serve in the capacity to drag power in sankera, apart from not been from there, he wasn't yet the governor not even minister just as His excellency, Gov. Alia was not close to politics, but was busy serving God as a Roman Catholic priest.
Fast-forward, His excellency, Chief. Samuel Ioraer Ortom was elected as governor by the good people of Benue state in the year 2015 .
As the chief security officer of the state, Ortom meet a dilapidated security structure and was geared towards bringing a lasting solution towards it.
Ortom did not only encountered sankera insecurity, he had Fulani millitia invasion agenda to tackle.
This wasn't an easy task and both required wisdom, energy, individual supports and resources.
With the zeal and courage to end insecurity in sankera and benue in general, Ortom made laws( anti open grazing law & anti cultist law) both which were aimed at arresting the menace but unfortunately, the desired result wasn't achieved.
Seeing that the situation was getting worst, Ortom again picked courage and banned the use of Toyota collora ( Dog nyash) & motorcycles both which were always been used for kidnapping, robbery and banditry operations within the area.
As of this time, farmers and Okada riders were the primary victims of this ban and Ortom was tagged" the heartless demon" with several insults and abuses.
Chief Ortom struggled with the insecurity untill his administration came to an end and Gov. Alia took over from him.
When Alia assumes office, he met same insecurity with so much expectations from people of the state, precisely direct victims.
Today, Alia is accused, insulted and blamed of the same insecurity that almost consumed Chief Ortom after all efforts.
Alia's only fault on the insecurity was his speechs during his campaign days.
Out of ignorance and desire for power, he promised to return IDPs to their ancestral homes within his first hundred days in office, a promise that hasn't been fulfilled.
In same regard, Gov. Alia is accused of involving in an agreement with the militia during campaign, which to me was an agreement made out of ignorance and shouldn't be a yardstick to shift blames on someone for over 15 years established evil.
Sankera is becoming a desert today because, we are still chasing shadow instead of holding the initiators of this evil responsible.
Conclusively, while others are asking of Alia's effort to end the insecurity, it is important for us as a people to know the efforts made made by sankera traditional leaders, legislatures who hails from the said axis, concerned political stakeholders and the clergymen, it's our collective responsibility to hold our leaders accountable but while doing it, we are expected to be diligent and rational.
By Gbamwuan Barnabas MRP✍️✍️
