As the National Assembly resumes from its long recess today, the House of Representatives and the Benue State Government have disagreed on the reasons for the spates of killings in the state in the past few months.
While the Deputy Spokesman of the House, Philip Agbese blamed Governor Hyacinth Alia for what it called his abandonment of the state anti-open grazing law for the increase in the killings of innocent citizens in recent times, the governor fired back, accusing Agbese of knowing next to nothing about how laws are suspended in state legislatures.
Attacks in Ukum and Logo Local Government Areas of Benue State in the past three weeks have left no fewer than 56 persons dead, with Gov Alia last week, appealing for Federal Government’s intervention to stem the tide.
Recall The two chambers had on March 27 proceeded on break to mark the Eid-el-Fitr and Easter celebrations and fixed Tuesday, April 29, 2025, as the resumption date. However, the Workers’ Days celebration on May 1 led to the extension of resumption by an additional week.
While on break, bandits in a senseless campaign of violence killed innocent Nigerians in Plateau, Benue and Zamfara States, culminating in calls for President Bola Tinubu to cut short his vacation in France to return home to lead the fight against insecurity from the front.
Speaking with The exclusively, the Deputy Spokesman of the House of Representatives, Philip Agbese, said the leadership of the House is committed to speaking against all forms of criminality in the country, particularly the killings of defenceless Nigerians and destruction of their property.
He said, “As we resume tomorrow (Tuesday), we are prepared to tackle squarely the issue of insecurity across the country. We are tired of observing one-minute silence in honour of the dead all the time. Like the Speaker, the Right Honourable Tajudeen Abbas always says, the life of every Nigerian is very important to the 10th National Assembly.