{"id":166668,"date":"2025-06-12T21:35:56","date_gmt":"2025-06-12T20:35:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/gov-alia-blames-religious-bandits-for-benue-crisis"},"modified":"2025-06-12T22:47:11","modified_gmt":"2025-06-12T21:47:11","slug":"gov-alia-blames-religious-bandits-for-benue-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/gov-alia-blames-religious-bandits-for-benue-crisis","title":{"rendered":"Gov Alia Blames Religious Bandits for Benue Crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. <\/strong><\/span>Governor Hyacinth Alia of Benue State has blamed those he described as \u201creligious bandits\u201d for fueling the prolonged crisis in the state.<\/p>\n<p>The governor made the remarks in Makurdi on Thursday during an event commemorating Nigeria\u2019s 2025 Democracy Day.<\/p>\n<p>He pointed out that while many traditional and religious leaders are actively collaborating with his administration to restore peace, some are allegedly stoking division and unrest.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are also some religious leaders that I call \u2018religious bandits\u2019 who are fueling the bad experiences that we are having here,\u201d Governor Alia stated.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow do they support that? By their rhetorics, by what they speak. If you do not have the facts about Benue and Nigeria, shut up. Don\u2019t just say something because you have the holy altar and oil to speak.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The governor said the Democracy Day celebration should inspire sober reflection, particularly in a state still grappling with security challenges.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is not yet Uhuru for us in Benue State. We are still burying our dead, who are killed unprovoked,\u201d he lamented. \u201cIt is not just hope but an intense effort to ensure that we take out this total menace of carnage and killings.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He assured the public that the government remains committed to tackling insecurity, especially in the six local government areas classified as flashpoints. Governor Alia expressed optimism that with sustained federal support, peace will be fully restored.<\/p>\n<p>Calling for unity and patriotism, he urged Nigerians to remain positive and focused on the nation\u2019s collective good.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLet\u2019s celebrate Nigeria as a common entity. It is a great day and we must think very positively for the state and the nation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Nigeria<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. Governor Hyacinth Alia of Benue State has blamed those he described as \u201creligious bandits\u201d for fueling the prolonged crisis in the state. The governor made the remarks in Makurdi on Thursday during an event commemorating Nigeria\u2019s 2025 Democracy Day. He pointed out that while many traditional and religious leaders are actively collaborating [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":166667,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,14],"tags":[9994,331,254],"class_list":["post-166668","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-alia","tag-benue","tag-nigeria"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Gov Alia Blames Religious Bandits for Benue Crisis - Nigeria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Governor Hyacinth Alia of Benue State has blamed those he described as \u201creligious bandits\u201d for fueling the prolonged cri ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/gov-alia-blames-religious-bandits-for-benue-crisis\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Gov Alia Blames Religious Bandits for Benue Crisis\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Governor Hyacinth Alia of Benue State has blamed those he described as \u201creligious bandits\u201d for fueling the prolonged cri ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/gov-alia-blames-religious-bandits-for-benue-crisis\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-06-12T20:35:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-06-12T21:47:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/06\/sm_1749752294.939706.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1556\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1110\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/gov-alia-blames-religious-bandits-for-benue-crisis#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/gov-alia-blames-religious-bandits-for-benue-crisis\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Gov Alia Blames Religious Bandits for Benue Crisis\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-06-12T20:35:56+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-06-12T21:47:11+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/gov-alia-blames-religious-bandits-for-benue-crisis\"},\"wordCount\":296,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/gov-alia-blames-religious-bandits-for-benue-crisis#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/06\/sm_1749752294.939706.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Alia\",\"Benue\",\"Nigeria\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/gov-alia-blames-religious-bandits-for-benue-crisis#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/gov-alia-blames-religious-bandits-for-benue-crisis\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/gov-alia-blames-religious-bandits-for-benue-crisis\",\"name\":\"Gov Alia Blames Religious Bandits for Benue Crisis - 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