Dele Farotimi, a human rights advocate and attorney, has criticized President Bola Tinubu’s speech and red carpet reception during his visit to Benue State.
Benue, a food-producing state in Nigeria’s North-Central region, has reportedly been the target of frequent attacks by alleged herdsmen for a while.
However, the killings in recent weeks have continued unabated, with at least 160 locals proven killed in a string of attacks by alleged herdsmen who devastated various villages throughout the state in a two-month period.
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Last Friday, suspected herdsmen attacked the state’s Yelewata district overnight, killing scores of civilians and displacing nearly 3,000 others. Civil rights groups asserted that about 200 killings were reported, despite the government stating that just 59 people had been killed.
Following a flurry of condemnation from opposition leaders, President Bola Tinubu visited Benue on Wednesday and tasked the service chiefs with stopping the state’s bloodletting and apprehending those responsible.
Farotimi said in an interview on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief on Thursday that President Tinubu would have been better off not going to Benue State than going there and showing no empathy for the state’s suffering.
He claimed that Tinubu spoke as though he were getting ready for a campaign rally and that his remarks lacked regret.
According to Farotimi, the only noteworthy statement made by Tor Tiv V James Ayatse during Tinubu’s visit to Makurdi, the capital of Benue State, on Wednesday was that the attacks were a well-thought-out, full-scale genocidal invasion and land-grabbing campaign by bandits and herder terrorists.
“I have to state right away that it would have been preferable if the president hadn’t gone,” he added.
“The Tor Tiv’s words, which spoke eloquently about the suffering of the victims and extensively about the reality of the situation in the Benue trough, were the only thing worthy of anyone’s time.”
Other than that, the president’s contributions were limited to glimpses into his obsessions and the issues that his assistants and aides are most concerned about. They made sure to erect the required theater for 2027 because they were aware of the president’s priorities in Benue.
More over 200 people died, but it didn’t really matter because they were just mentioned in passing, and you could have been forgiven because it was a political event.
“The protection of citizens’ lives and property is the main reason the state exists. Our ability to be astonished has all but vanished. After 200 people were killed, the president went to Benue and spoke as though he was getting ready for a campaign rally.
