Benue State Governor, Hyacinth Alia, has accused the state Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Austin Agada and Executive Director, Finance and Accounts at Federal Housing Authority FHA, Matthias Byuan, of hiring armed men and thugs to destabilise the state.

The armed men who accompanied Agada and Byuan reportedly made their way into the heart of the town in a convoy and started shooting sporadically when they got to Tito Gate, Kashim Ibrahim road, Makurdi.

The duo were said to have led the armed men round parts of the old GRA and were headed to property number 75, J S Tarka Way, said to be owned by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume, when operatives of the Nigeria Police arrived and began to engage them, before they disappeared.

This was contained in a statement made available to journalists in Makurdi on Friday by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Sir Tersoo Kula.

The statement read: “Recall that Governor Hyacinth Alia had banned all political and social gatherings in the state till further notice.

“These directives were later publicly communicated to the public through the Commissioner of Police, Benue State command who approved enforcement and equally asked the organizers to call off their meetings.

“The government is worried that some people are still in the habit of insisting to derail the relative peace in the state and hinder development that Gov. Alia is bringing home.

“The security atmosphere in Benue State is only gradually returning to calm after it was charged recently following the unprecedented influx of armed herders who were brought in by enemies of the state to destabilize the government.

“We urge Benue people to be security conscious and immediately report activities of these fifth columnists as we call on security agencies to arrest these merchants of crisis and bring them to book to serve as a deterrent to others.”