Insecurity: Alia’s Control Of LG Funds Has Left Benue People Defenceless – ADC
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has said that the excessive control of the 23 local government areas in Benue State by Governor Hyacinth Alia has left people of the state at the grassroots defenceless.
The party was reacting to pockets of insecurity ravaging the people in Guma, Kwande, Gwer West, Ukum, Katsina-Ala and Logo, and other communities of Mbawa, Yelwata, Ogbaji, Agatu and many more border communities in Benue State.
The party expressed concern over the worsening “insecurity that has taken over Benue in ways that can no longer be measured by mere promises and press grammar from government house, Makurdi”.
“Our people in Guma, Kwande, Gwer West, Ukum, Katsina-Ala and Logo are under daily terrorist attacks. From Agasha to Zaki-Biam, from Naka to Anyiin, our farmers cannot go to farm, our children cannot go to school, and families can no longer sleep with their eyes closed”.
“These are not just security failures. These are simple, dangerous gaps in our governance system under Governor Hyacinth Alia, and the State Joint Local Government Account plays a key role.
“We ask Benue people a simple question: Why are our local governments powerless in the face of deaths? The answer is in the Joint Account.
“The Supreme Court ruled in July 2024 in AGF v AG Abia & 35 Ors – pay local government money directly to the democratically elected councils. But in Benue State today, our 23 chairmen are democratically elected but not empowered.
“They have no direct funds to: Fuel patrol vans for rapid response; support vigilantes and community volunteer guards; maintain rural roads and bridges for security access; care for IDPs in Daudu, Abagena, and other camps.
“You cannot keep money in Makurdi and expect security in Moon, in Turan, in Mbawa, in Yelwata, in Ogbaji, in Agatu. Security starts at the ward level. When you kill the local government, you kill local intelligence, you kill local response, you kill local resilience. You also encourage rural-urban migration, which leaves our communities without the manpower to farm, guide and protect rural families”.
The ADC, in a widely circulated statement via its state publicity scribe, Michael Inyaregh,
therefore demands Governor Hyacinth Alia to “release full FAAC allocations directly to the 23 councils without deductions or delays, in full compliance with the Supreme Court judgment.
“Allow chairmen, with approval of their legislative councils, to fund local security operations with proper oversight and audit, and publish monthly, for public scrutiny, what each LGA receives from the Federation Account and what is remitted to it.
It also urged the governor to free the local governments to enable them to strengthen the fight against insecurity, stressing that the continued caging of local government chairmen will continue to cause the local governments to bleed.
