Governor Hyacinth Alia of Benue State on Tuesday decried the recent killings in the state, saying the gunmen come in their numbers.

The governor, who spoke on Channels Television’s Politics Today, said although there is a need for self-defence of innocent residents, he, however, lamented that most communities lack enough equipment to face the killers.

“When the terrorists come in, they are not just coming in their 50s; they are coming in 100s. They are talking about coming on motorbikes,” he said.

“Inasmuch as there is a very grave need for the self-defence of our people, we wouldn’t want to have more scores of deaths on our hands. We simply need to start thinking about community policing.”

Benus has in the past decade experienced incessant attacks.

Also, weighing in on the recent killings, Alia said the perpetrators are not Nigerians, stating that they speak unfamiliar languages and exhibit foreign characteristics.

According to the governor, intelligence from locals suggests the attackers may be foreign nationals.

Some of the burnt houses in the fresh Benue attack on April 15, 2025

“Let’s have the narrative very correct. We know Nigerians—by our ethnicities, we can identify a Fulani man, a Yoruba man, a Hausa man—we know them. Even the regular traditional herders, we know them. They work with cows, herding with sticks.

“But these folks [the attackers] are coming in fully armed with AK-47s and 49s. They do not bear the Nigerian look. They don’t speak like we do. Even the Hausa they speak is one sort of Hausa.

“It’s not the normal Hausa we Nigerians speak. So it is with the Fulani they speak. There is a trend in the language they speak, and some of our people who understand what they speak give it names. They say they are Malians and different from our people. But they are not Nigerians—believe it,” he added.