The governor of Benue State, Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Alia, has clarified that the insecurity challenges facing the state should not be classified as genocide reiterating his stand as a catholic priest.

Alia made the clarification at a consultative forum on protecting the rights of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and Forcibly Displaced Persons (FDPs), organised by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in Abuja.

The governor said the recent claims of genocide in the state are inaccurate and inconsistent with internationally recognised definitions.

“I am a Reverend Father, so being in governance does not take that away from me. In my state of Benue, we do not have any religious, ethnic, racial, national, or state genocide. We do not have that,” he said.

However, Alia acknowledged that communities in Benue have experienced significant security incidents over the years.

He further emphasised that these incidents do not meet the criteria for genocide as defined by the United Nations.

“Do we have insecurity in the state? Yes, we do. But it is not a genocide. One would need to go through the United Nations definitions for this,” he explained.

According to the governor, the long-running tensions in the state can be traced to conflicts between agro-pastoralists and crop farmers which escalated gradually over many years .

However, he warned that such occurrence should not be labelled as genocide.

“Have we lost people? Yes, at different stages. I’m giving a background of the challenges we’ve had for many years — talking about agro-pastoralists and typical farmers. It began like a minor issue and then grew to huge proportions. But that does not fit the parameters of a genocide,” he said.

He urged stakeholders to avoid mischaracterising the situation, noting that exaggerations risk politicising a serious security matter.

“For those who seek to politicise everything, there is no genocide in Benue State. But we do have security challenges,” Governor Alia stated.