Terseer Ugbor, a lawmaker representing the Benus House of Representatives Quart/Ushongo federal constituency, has attributed the state’s recent surge in insecurities to a lack of cooperation among political leaders. The MP who ruled all Progressive Assembly (APC) criticized the state government for criticizing the state under the governor of Hyacinth Alia, which he called what he called “bad politics” when addressing escalating security challenges.
On Friday, May 9, at the sunrise on the channel’s TV show, Ugbor highlighted the lack of synergy between the state government and the National Assembly members in Benue. “Unfortunately, there is not much synergy and no interaction between the Benue State Government and the National Assembly. Since I became a member of the House of Representatives, I have never been invited by the Governor of the Benue Government Building, and the House of Representatives has had any kind of discussion and my community has experienced the highest level of disadvantage in the state.”
Ugbor was frustrated by the lack of engagement with lawmakers, showing that he had contacted the governor several times and even tried to get the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to involve relief efforts, but his attempts were unsuccessful. He added: “I requested to be invited, and I have reached out many times and I have tried to do my best to reach out with Nema to provide palliative care.”
He also noted that he and other legislators were excluded from the governor’s meeting of key stakeholders, including a recently established security committee to address the state’s insecurity. “We were not invited (to participate in stakeholder participation). Recently, a security committee was established in the state to view insecurity, and we were not invited. The Benue government believes that members of the National Assembly are not playing a role, or are important, or are important, and can be invited to the Benue Security Committee to view the security committee.”
When asked why the governor might have excluded him and others from these meetings, Ugbor attributed the problem to politics, calling it “bad politics.” He said: “It’s just politics; it’s really bad politics. What else is it? I’ll give you a typical example of my local government setting up a security committee because of my local government’s insecurity, and I wasn’t invited.”
Despite these challenges, Ugbor stressed that Benue’s insecurity should not be politicized. “The insecurity in Benu state cannot be politicized … We are ready to work with the governor and every department of the government to bring peace to the state,” he said.
UGBOR also highlighted the serious impact of insecurity and noted that more than 40% of the state’s arable land is captured by armed herders, leaving agricultural communities vulnerable. Recent attacks, especially in the UKUM and Logo Local Government areas, have claimed more than 50 lives, resulting in growing sense of fear and turmoil in the region.
In response to recent violence, Governor Alia called on the federal government to intervene and resolve the worsening security situation. After visiting the affected areas, he condemned the attacks on vulnerable communities and urged security agencies to take stronger actions to prevent further bleeding. “We need to take bigger actions from security agencies to weaken these killings,” he said.
